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EUROPEAN NOTES : 



OR, 



WHAT I SAW IN THE OLD WORLD, 



MORTON BRYAN *^WHARTON, D. D., 

LATE U. S. CONSUL IN GERMANY. 



b'/ 



y 



When thou haply seest 

Some rare, noteworthy object in thy travels, 

Make me partaker of thy happmess. 

— Shakespeaee. 



ILLUSTRATED.! )j^y ]^-' 



^'" Vl'Afril'i^^ 



i^^^ 



ATLANTA, GEORGIA : 

JAMES P. HARRISON & CO., PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS, 

1884. 






51 ''^ 



iOV CONGRESS 
rASBlNGTON^ 



DEDICATION. 



TO 

my wife, my children, and my niece, 

companions in my travels, 

and also to 

rev, h, m. wharton, and j. wingfield nisbet, esq., 

(part op the time with us) 

these " european notes" are 

affectionately INSCRIBED. 



Copy Right Secured by 
M. B. WHARfON, 1884 
All Rights Reserved. " 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR. 

WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL. 

SPURGEON'S TABERNACLE. 

TOWER OF LONDON. 

COLOGNE CATHEDRAL. 

SCENE ON THE RHINE. 

"BINGEN ON THE RHINE." 

OBERSTEIN ON THE RHINE. 

COBURG CASTLE AND PART OF THE CITY. 

PORTRAIT OF MARTIN LUTHER. 

INTERIOR OF WARTBURG CASTLE. 

PALACE BRIDGE, AND PARK, BERLIN. 

STRASBURG CATHEDRAL. 

PARIS. 

CHAMPS ELYSEES, PARIS. 

ZURICH. 

SWISS SCENE. 

SCENE IN VIENNA. 

FLORENCE. 

THE PANTHEON, ROME. 

THE COLOSSEUM, ROME. 

ST. PETER'S, ROME. 

SCENE IN THE VATICAN, ROME. 

NAPLES. 

INTERIOR SCENE, POMPEII, HOUSE RESTORED- 

THE FORUM OF POMPEII. 

PISA. 

ST. MARKS, VENICE. 

EDINBURGH. 

HOLYROOD PALACE. 

GLASGOW. 

MELROSE ABBEY. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

From Continent to Continent : 

Life on the Ocean wave, I 

First Glimpse of Europe, 7 

CHAPTER II. 
Lights and Sights of London : 

Westminster Abbey 12 

St. Paul's Cathedral 21 

Some Notable Dissenting Churches 24 

The Tower of London 30 

Madame Tussaud's Gallery 36 

A Tramp through London, 39 

Parliament, 46 

Whitehall, 48 

British Museum, etc 49 

Farewell to London, 52 

CHAPTER III. 
By Rail and Sail to Sonneberg : 

From London to Cologne, 57 

Sweet Scented Cologne, 60 

The Rhine 63 

Mayence, 74 

Frankfort-on-the-Main, etc 78 

Sonneberg 82 

Coburg 85 

The Duke of Meiningen 89 

Fourth of July Celebration at Leipsic, 92 

American Citizenship, 94 

IX 



X CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Ducal Family of Coburg 97, 

CHAPTER V. 

The Homes AND Haunts OF Luther 114 

CHAPTER VI. 

Religious Aspects and Customs of Germany, . . . 137 

CHAPTER VII. 
German Cities. 

Notes by the Way 1 54 

Leipsic, . 1 56 

Dresden 159 

Berlin, 164 

A Day in Potsdam, 172 

Nuremberg 177 

CHAPTER VIII. 
German Drinks. 

Beer, . . . , . . 182 

Wine, •. , . . 185 

Water, 186 

CHAPTER IX. 
La Belle France. 

En route to Paris, . 190 

The Famous French Capital, . . . • 193 

The Champs Elysees, 199 

A Day in Versailles, 20 1 

CHAPTER X. 
Snow-Clad Switzerland. 

From Basle to Lucerne. 206 

Swiss Industries, . 209 

Farewell to Switzerland, 213 

CHAPTER XI. 
A Ride through Austria. 

"Beautiful Blue Danube," . 217 

Vienna, 221 

Bohemia, 226 



CONTENTS. XI 
CHAPTER XII. 

PAGE 

First View of Italy. 

Crossing the Alps, 232 

From Verona to Florence, 237 

Beautiful Florence, • . . 241 

From Florence to Rome, . . , 246 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Roaming through Rome. 

First Day in Rome, 250 

Capitoline Hill 255 

The Forum 259 

A Cluster of Ancient Wonders, 263 

Footprints of Paul, 270 

A Visit to the Catacombs, 274 

St. Peter's, 278 

The Vatican 281 

Here and There, 284 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Southern Italy. 

Naples , 290 

Pompeii 294 

CHAPTER XV. 
Three Italian Cities. 

Peerless Pisa, ... 302 

A Night in Padua, 304 

Enchanting Venice, 307 

CHAPTER XVI. 
The Netherlands. 

Brussels . 314 

Field of Waterloo 316 

Antwerp, Rotterdam, and the Hague, 321 

CHAPTER XVII. 
From London to Edinburgh. 

Famous Midland Scenes, 326 

The Wharton Family of Westmoreland, 330 

Entering Scotland 334 



xir 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Edinburgh. 

Bird's-Eye View ,....,.. 33$ 

The Castle, . . , 337 

Holyrood Palace , 339 

Observations, 342 

CHAPTER XTX. 

The Land of Burns 

Glasgow, 

Burns' House, 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Land of Scott 

Melrose Abbey, 350 

Abbotsford, 351 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Homeward Bound . 354 

Reflections on Leaving Europe 354 

Boarding the City of Berlin, 355 

Old Ireland, 356 

A Stormy Passage, 360 



PREFACE. 



MY object in going abroad was two-fold, to regain my healtti, and 
view the wonders of the Old World. The Consulate was 
sought and accepted, not on account of any honor or great emolu- 
ment that it might confer, but simply as a means to the proposed 
end. The position, I thought, would give me many advantages over 
the ordinary tourist, and the compensation would aid me in carrying 
out my purposes, in all of which I was not disappointed. With grati- 
tude I can state that I was successful in my first design ; and as to 
the second, those may judge who read these " Notes" on "What I saw 
in the Old World." 

The book is published in response to requests that came from all 
parts of the country, and it has been hurriedly prepared in the midst 
of absorbing editorial and ministerial labors. This is my apology for 
any inaccuracies that may appear. 

The work will prove specially useful to three classes of persons, 
and these embrace all that it is possible for any book to reach in this 
country : 

1. Those who have visited Europe will be refreshed, as they read of 
scenes and incidents with which they are familiar. 

2. Those who intend to go will find the work an invaluable travel- 
ing companion, enabling them to see more with less trouble and out- 
lay than could otherwise possibly be done. 

3. Those who cannot go will find a perusal of these " Notes" the 
next best thing to an actual visit, and almost equal to it ; for the plan 
of the work is simply to take my readers into my party, and conduct 
them as faithfully as I could to the scenes that so greatly interested me. 

I have not given authorities in the historical allusions, because their 
citation would too greatly encumber the pages, and because such facts 
are the common-places of literature. 

The labor of writing has been a " labor of love," for, having greatly 
enjoyed the visit myself, there has been a real pleasure in the endeavor 
to make others " partakers of my happiness." 

M. B. WHARTON. 

Atlanta, Ga., Oct. i, 1884. 



European Notes. 



CHAPTER L 



FROM CONTINENT TO CONTINENT. 

LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE. 

WHAT dread some people have of the water! I never 
knew that this species of hydrophobia existed to such 
an extent, until it was finally determined that I should 
visit Europe. Then my friends told their secret feelings 
and said many things to shake my deliberately formed 
purpose. " Ah ! I shall never go to Europe," said one ; 
" between me and that land there is a great gulf fixed so 
that I can never think of crossing." " If I could go by 
rail," said another, " I would try it, but not as you pro- 
pose," " Why," said I, " it is not more dangerous than 
railway travel." " Yes," said he, " but as the darkey says, 
* If you git blowed up on de kars you are dar, but if you 
git Slowed up on de ocean, whar is yer?'" "Look at 
the Cunard line," said I, "it has been running for forty 
years and has never lost a passenger." " Yes," said he, 
"but if I were to go that would be the time of the first 
disaster, and I the first man to go down, or may be 'up,' 
and down at the same time." Still another man who was 
noted for his recklessness in many things, said, " I am 
afraid of that pond. If I were told there were $i 5,000,000 
which I could have by going for it, I would never attempt 
It." 



2 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

I had gone too far to recede, however, and go I must. 
The great trouble was, as to the question, in which steamer 
to sail? Some were swifter, some considered safer, some 
cheaper, etc. "You let cheapness alone," said a friend, 
" and take the ship that will carry you over." The Cu- 
nard was my first choice, but the steamers on that line were 
all crowded. The Inman was equally as celebrated, and 
I am sure has as good accommodations, but a friend sug- 
gested that some years ago one of its vessels went afloat 
and has never been heard of since. The Guion was 
mentioned as number one, and so with the Anchor, and 
the White Star. The " American " was also popular, but 
considered too new. The French line and the German 
Lloyd were both proposed, but I wanted to hold on to 
English speaking people as long as possible. After some 
telegraphing I concluded to try the Inman, and engaged 
passage on the " City of Chester," sailing July i6t?i, i88i. 
Oh ! then the suggestions that were made by those who 
had been across as to clothing, remedies for sea-sickness, 
etc., but braving it all, we proceeded to New York a few 
days before sailing, our baggage being checked direct to 
the steamer. The evening before sailing we went down 
and took a look at the vessel. There she stood grand 
and beautiful ! We were welcomed on board and 
shown our rooms. I can never forget my feelings as I 
thought of confining ourselves to that small abode for a 
journey of three thousand miles upon the trackless ocean. 
Everything looked very comfortable ; the rooms were all 
nicely furnished, the saloon elegantly fitted up, and 
everything conspiring to the health, comfort and safety 
of the passengers. Next morning, at nine o'clock, we 
went on board, no more to tread America's soil for a 
long, long time. The deck was crowded already with 
passengers and their friends who had come to see them 
off. I was introduced to the captain and other officers, 
whom I found to be first-class oflficers and most intelligent 
and agreeable gentlemen. Some friends, stopping in 
New York, came on board to bid us adieu. After a few 
moments' rapid conversation, the deep-toned voice of one 
of the officers rang oat, " Visitors ashore." We began ta 



FROM CONTINENT TO CONTINENT. 3 

feel a little sad as hasty good-byes were spoken, friends 
departed, gangways were lifted, and we found ourselves 
" alone with the deep." 

Soon the parting whistle was given and the noble ship 
slowly, but surely, began to move out of the harbor. As 
we rounded the dock, the visitors were collected in an 
immense group on the front platform, and with handker- 
chiefs waving, bade us all a long adieu. The American 
flag and the harbor pilot were the lone tokens that we 
were not quite off from " friends and native land." 

After sailing about two hours, New York and Brooklyn 
and the adjacent heights gradually receded from our view, 
the pilot was lowered into a small boat, the American colors 
were taken down, the British colors went up, and we were 
fairly at sea. The day was bright, the scenery beautiful, 
the sea air bracing, but there were many sad hearts on 
board. As we gazed at the flag fluttering in the Jbreeze, 
we felt it was emblematic of our feelings. 

" As slow our ship her foamy track 

Against the wind was cleaving, 
Her trembling pennon still looked back 

To that dear land 'twas leaving. 
So loath we part from all we love, 

From all the links that bind us, 
So turn our hearts where'er we rove 

To those we've left behind us," 

We had been occupied a goo^d part of the time since 
leaving our moorings in writing letters to send back by 
the pilot, and now that he had gone, all walked over the 
decks, gazing on each new face of those now to become 
familiar as fellow travelers, with destinies mutually locked 
up in the fortunes of the " City of Chester." There were 
i6o cabin passengers, as many steerage, and the numer- 
ous crew, making a considej'able population for the little 
city which we had entered, and a city it was. The beaitti- 
ful steamers of the Mississippi have been styled "floating 
palaces," this was a floating city of such magnificence as 
those unaccustomed to modern steamships could neyer 
have dreamed of. 

We found the passengers intelligent and social ; the 



4 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

officers polite and attentive ; the stewards respectful and 
obliging to the last degree. 

And now, as we inhabited this " City " for ten days, it 
may be interesting to know how we spent the time. 
Much of the time is spent in eating. We had breakfast 
at seven, lunch at one, dinner at six, and supper from 
nine until eleven, and such fare I have never seen even in 
the best hotels. The passengers are supplied with every- 
thing in the shape of flesh, fish and fowls, fruits, vegeta- 
bles, and ices. Those who are not seasick generally have 
good appetites and are ever ready for a good meal, while 
many are not able to eat at all. The first day or two out 
many complained of seasickness, but I have the gratifica- 
tion to state that I felt not the first symptoms from New 
York to Liverpool. And Mark Twain well observes, if 
anything is calculated to make a man vain it is to see 
everybody around him seasick and he not at all so. The 
weather was not, as a general thing, rough, and there 
were not many cases. While most of the time is spent 
in eating, still more is spent in sleeping, and more deli- 
cious repose we never enjoyed than when " rocked in the 
cradle of the deep." Many slept, not only through the 
night, but even all during the day. Much of the time 
was spent in conversation, and it is astonishing how much 
one can learn on board ship from experienced travelers 
who are ever communicative. The recitals of their ad- 
ventures excite all the interest and more than the fresh- 
ness of novel reading. Here were people belonging to 
all nationalities and speaking several languages, and on all 
subjects, nautical, philosophical, and geographical, they 
brought forth things new and old out of their treasuries. 
Here were ministers, lawyers, physicians, merchants, 
professors students, etc. Many, of course, spent most 
of their time reading, whether because it was more 
interesting, or because they fancied it made them look 
more so, I can not say. Promenades on deck occupied 
the attention of all at different hours of the day and 
night. Amusements, such as card playing, ring toss, and 
shuf^e deck, were indulged in by the majority. Singing 
and piano playing also served to vary some monotonous 



FROM CONTINENT TO CONTINENT. 5 

hours. " Taking the log " always created some excite- 
ment, and all watched the daily progress of the record, 
and knowing ones could always tell at just what time the 
ship would reach a certain degree. Many amused them- 
selves talking with the sailors, learning their nautical 
terms and hearing their strange tales of adventure, others 
visited the engine rooms and fire department, which, on 
so large a steamer, was so extensive and terrific as to sug- 
gest the idea of the Plutonian regions. The steamer's 
speed was generally fourteen knots an hour, or three 
hundred miles in twenty-four. When in mid ocean an en- 
tertainment was held in the saloon under the direction of 
the captain and purser for the benefit of the Seamen's 
Home in Liverpool. It consisted of readings, recitations and 
music. Several of us took part, and at the close, a hand- 
some collection was lifted. The elegant gentlemen's 
saloon was the scene of much smoking and joking, and 
also of an entertaining mock trial for breach of promise. 
Church of England services, conducted by the captain, were 
held on the second Sunday, and were very solemn and im- 
pressive. The first Sunday the fog was so dense that services 
were dispensed with. AH were deeply interested in the 
wonders of the deep. The vessel was followed till far 
out at sea by great flocks of sea-gulls, while innumerable 
smaller birds would remind us of the land by their merry 
chirpings, as they sat perched upon some crested wave 
instead of a waving tree. Vast schools of porpoises fol- 
lowed the vessel, illustrating, 1 imagine, the scene 
described in the Bible where the devils having gone into 
the swine, the whole herd plunged madly into the sea. 
Once or twice a huge whale could be seen lashing the sea 
into foam with its tail and spouting water high into the air. 
Once I caught a glimpse of a huge sea turtle, which 
seemed almost as large as a flat-bottomed boat, floating 
leisurely along in waters supposed to be five miles deep. 
Several times we passed magnificent steamers, and recip"^ 
rocal signals were given that at night were strikingly 
beautiful. Each line has the red, blue or green light, or 
a combination of the same, as a particular signal which 
is well understood by mariners. Sailing vessels in far 



6 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

greater numbers were seen clinging to the waves, appar- 
ently motionless and sometimes in the distance present- 
ing the appearance of a candle fly on the wall, or huge 
mosquitoes reposing on the net after a night's "sailing" 
over the "deep" of somebody's slumbers. 

We had but two serious causes of anxiety: one was the 
icebergs, which we fortunately escaped ; the other was 
the fog, which af times was so dense that we really 
could not see our hands before us. The fearful tone of 
the fog horn I can never forget, but the noble Captain 
Watkins, at such a time, and often without sleep for 
forty eight hours, was always at his post on the bridge, 
watching with straining gaze amid cold and often rain, 
conscious of the precious cargo that had been committed 
to his charge. After being nine days out, the reappear- 
ance of the sea gulls, floating pieces of driftwood and 
tufts of grass reminded us that we were approaching the 
shore. Night came on, and in the distance we sighted 
the " cow and calf," two famous lighthouses on the Irish 
coast. As they were revolving lights, they reminded me 
of what Dickens said about a lighthouse on Cape Grenade 
in stormy weather, which, to the drifting mariner, appeared 
as a huge giant, with head of fire, rising up ever and 
anon, to see the progress of the storm, and then retiring 
to his couch again. These lighthouses were swept away 
during the storms and swelling seas of the succeeding 
November, and the keepers were compelled to remain on 
the bare rocks for many days in a state of starvation, and 
were with difificulty rescued. Next morning, on awaking 
and looking through the port hole, I discovered, to my 
infinite delight, the green shores of Ireland, and land 
never looked so charming to me before. We sailed along 
the coast for several hours, and at last called at Queens- 
town, the first time the panting ship had stopped to rest 
since leaving New York. Here, man)^ of the passengers 
diseinbarked to make the tour of Ireland and Scotland. 
Then, after inquiring about the wounded President and 
securing some newspapers, we proceeded to Liverpool. 

The most dangerous part of the voyage lies between 
Queenstown and Liverpool, and wrecks from storms and 



FROM CONTINENT TO CONTINENT. 7 

collisions frequently occur there, where the coasts are 
more rocky and the fogs denser and more frequent than 
anywhere else. We were favored with a clear day, with no 
fog to molest us, and our ride in view of Ireland and the 
Isle of Man on one side and Wales and England on the 
other, with innumerable gay ships and steamers all the 
time passing us, made this the most pleasant part of the 
entire passage. 

Toward night we entered the Mersey and steamed up 
to a world of glittering lights, which we knew to be Liv- 
erpool, a city of 600,000 busy inhabitants, and the great 
cotton market of the age. We were not permitted to 
land that night, but slept on the steamer, I say slept, 
but there was not much sleeping done. About midnight 
we were disturbed by the most unearthly noise — thump- 
ing, blowing, screaming, pufifing, rattling — enough to tear 
the nerves into "mortal flinders." I thought that our time 
had come, and that we had crossed three thousand miles 
of ocean to be drowned in the harbor of Liverpool. I 
dressed myself and went above, and found that they were 
simply, with the aid of derricks, unloading the ship's 
vast cargo. Our fears being allayed, we enjoyed a few 
hours' repose, and next morning, after a hearty breakfast 
on board, and mutual adieus and thanks expressed to the 
captain and others for special attentions, we left our ship 
and, embarking in a "tender," were taken ashore, where, 
according to custom, we entered the "Custom" House to 
undergo the delays (for they are not much else) of the 
formalities there observed. The presenting of my consu- 
lar passport saved me all annoyance, and securing a hack, 
we proceeded to our hotel. 

FIRST GLIMPSE OF EUROPE. 

Glimpses we had of the green shores of the Emerald 
Isle — so grateful to eyes that had, for ten long days, only 
rested on the unbroken scenery of broken waves ever 
restlessly and nervously chasing each other to some far 
distant shore ; glimpses we had also of the "Isle of Man,'' 
standing on the left like a grim sentinel of the sea ; and 
of the huge rock of Holyhead and other grey peaks of 



8 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Wales that lift their sombre forms sullenly to the sky, and 
saying to the maddening sea forever beating against them^ 
^'Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall 
thy proud waves be stayed." 

And now we beheld what we had not seen before since 
we arrived at New York, a train of cars skirting along the 
shore, leaving a dense cloud of black smoke behind, reveal- 
ing, all at once, civilization, activity, and life again. But 
the real "first glimpse of Europe" which we enjoyed was 
from Liverpool to London Tourists very seldom stop 
long in Liverpool. They think there is not much there 
to see, and they are impatient to hurry on to the Metrop- 
olis. We formed no exception to the rule, but staid 
long enough to drive through the city, and afterwards 
strolled on foot to some of the principal objects of 
interest. 

Liverpool is unlike almost any other important city in 
Europe, in that it is new, and is particularly interesting 
to us, because it has increased to its present enormous 
population and prosperity chiefly as a result of American 
commerce. The only monarch America has ever known 
reigns supreme in this great market — Cotton is its King. 
In 1644 Prince Rupert called Liverpool "a mere crow's 
nest," and it was not until the close of the seventeenth 
century that it became a corporate town. In 1561 its 
population was 690 ; in 1861,462,749; in 1871, 500,000, 
now the population is 600,000. The rapidity of its pro- 
gress is one of the most remarkable instances of prosper- 
ity the world has ever known, and reminds one of some 
of our Western cities, such as Chicago, St. Louis, etc. It 
is stated that Liverpool has, for more than a century, 
invariably doubled its population, town and dock dues, 
imports and exports, customs receipts and payments, 
every sixteen years. We took a hasty view of some of 
the public buildings, such as the town hall, the exchange 
buildings, the custom-houses, St. George's Hall, the Wel- 
lington monument, and the world renowned dock-. There 
are over seventy places of worship in Liverpool connect- 
ed with the Church of England and nearly two hundred 
dissenting and Roman Catholic churches. We stopped 



FROM CONTINENT TO CONTINENT. 9 

at the elegant Northwestern Railway Hotel, and this 
leads me to remark that nearly all the first class railways 
have at their termini first class hotels, generally the best 
in the cities where they are located, for instance, this 
hotel in Liverpool, the Charing Cross in London, etc. 
The question now was, what route shall we take to Lon- 
don ? The Midland route is the favorite, and said to be 
the best, but we thought we found better accommodations 
on the Northwestern, and chose that which runs through 
the very heart and centre of England and gave us the 
opportunity of seeing much on the way. The ride of our 
party of seven that day — snugly ensconced in our reserved 
coupe, birds, as we were, just turned loose from one of 
the great cages of the sea, flying over the land, (and these 
English trains do '"fly,") catching glimpses of handsome 
farm houses, pretty villages, stately castles, waving harvests, 
and luxuriant forests, all joyous and happy — the ride that 
day I can never forget. It is impossible to speak of all 
the stations along our route, each one of which pos- 
sesses some interest to an American traveler seeking 
information of the Old World. Crewe is one of the lar- 
gest and most important, named in honor of Lord Crewe, 
whose seat, "Crewe Hall,'' is seen overtopping the woods 
to the left. Between Betley Road and Modeley we pass 
through Cheshire and Staffordshire, the latter being the 
seat of some of the most important manufactories in 
England. Soon we came in sight of Eccleshall, the seat 
of the bishops of Lichfield for five hundred years. It 
was here that Margaret of Anjou sought refuge after her 
flight from Blore Heath. We next came in sight of Staf- 
ford, a town of 16,000, the inhabitants being chiefly occu- 
pied in the manufacture of boots and shoes. In sight is 
an ancient castle, built by Elfleda, Alfred's daughter, in 
the year 913. I r-^gretted I could not look in and see 
some curiosities preserved there, such as the chairs of 
Queen Elizabeth, Charles II. 's bed, etc. In the town of 
Stafford, in 1593, was born the celebrated Izaak 
Walton, the father of angling. Next comes Wolver- 
hampton with 70,000 inhabitants, an important centre of 
the iron trade ; one million five hundred dozen locks alone 
being annually made here. 



10 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Coventry, which has 41,348 inhabitants, is filled with 
stately buildings of great antiquity, and is full of associa- 
tions of royal state and chivalry. It was here that an 
incident occurred "a thousand summers back" that is 
familiar to people all over the world. Lady Godiva, wife 
of the Saxon earl, Leofric, had often besought her lord to 
emancipate the burghers, but he always turned a deaf ear 
to her solicitations, until, wearied at last by her pertinac- 
ity, he told her he would grant her request ''if she would 
ride naked through the town." Leofric intended this to 
put an end to her solicitations, by imposing what he 
believed an impossible condition. Lady Godiva, howev- 
er, took him at his word, and carried out his infamous 
proposal to the full, thus winning her request. This 
forms the subject of one of Tennyson's best poems. The 
tailor, "low churl, compact of thankless earth,'' (the only 
one who dared gaze on the lady in her humiliation,) has 
been elevated to a bad eminence in the upper story of a 
house at the corner of Hertford street, where "Peeping 
Tom'' is still to be seen. Next came a town that I had 
heard of and read of all my life and which I was delight- 
ed to behold. It was Rugby, the seat of one of the most 
famous schools in England. It was founded by a London 
tradesman, Lawrence Sheriff, in 1567, who endowed it 
with property now worth $350,000. Many distinguished 
men have filled the chair of head master of the school, 
the most noted of whom was Dr. Arnold, widely known 
in America as well as in England. The head master is 
assisted by a dozen masters. A pension, varying from 
$500 to $[,500, is given by the governing board to retir- 
ing masters after ten years' service. There are sixty 
scholars upon the foundation who have the preference for 
the twenty-one exhibitions of the value of $300 per an- 
num for seven years. These exhibitions are available 
either at Oxford or Cambridge. Besides the foundation, 
the school educates two hundred and sixty boys who pay 
for their tuition. The building is extensive, the front 
being 220 feet long. Easter Wednesday is the great day 
at Rugby. Prize poems are recited in the great room. 
One of these, established by the Queen, is given in honor 



FROM CONTINENT TO CONTINENT. II 

of Dr. Arnold's memory. We now approach Wolverton, 
from which there is a branch road to Oiney, five miles 
distant, which place I regret I did not visit, as it contains 
the house where Cowper lived till 1786. Scott, the Com- 
mentator, and John Newton were formerly curates of the 
parish. The latter was associated with Cowper in the pro- 
duction of the well known Olney Hymns. Soon after 
leaving Wolverton, Bletchley is reached, from which sta- 
tion an extended view is obtained of the surrounding 
country, including Whaddon, Chase and Hall, where 
Arthur, Lord Grey, entertained Elizabeth. We now 
approach Berkhamstead, noted as the birth-place of Cow- 
per, whose father was rector. An Anglo Saxon castle 
stood here in the time of the Conquest, and in it William, 
the Conqueror, received a deputation of Saxon nobles 
after the battle of Hastings ; and among those who lived 
there were Edward, the Black Prince ; the Duchess of 
York, mother of Richard HI., and Chaucer, the poet, who 
was employed as a clerk. On the top of a hill near by, is 
a house built by Sir Edward Cary in the time of Queen 
Elizabeth, who granted him a lease of the "old castle at 
the rent of a red rose every midsummer day." We pass 
soon the remains of an old castle said to have been built 
by King John, and inhabited by Richard HI., who, to 
avenge himself upon an old widow there who called him 
"Hunchback," ordained that in this parish no widow 
should receive her "thirds." Passing some other small 
places, we come to a place ever memorable for its connec- 
tion with Lord Byron, namely, Harrow on the Hill. The 
school here was founded by John Lyon in the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth, and is one of the finest in England. 
Visiting it many years after his student life, Byron said : 

"Again I beheld where for hours I had pondered, 

As reclining at eve on yon tombstone I lay, 
Or round the steep brow of the church yard I wandered, 

To catch the last glimpse of the sun's setting ray." 

We dash along and soon come in sight of the greatest 
city of the world. 



CHAPTER 11. 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 

WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 

SPEAKING of the wonders of London, I will only allude 
to the wonders I saw. To speak profusely of 
these would require the dimensions of a volume ; to 
speak of all the wonders of that city would require the 
dimensions of a library. London is truly a gigantic, 
marvelous place. It has four millions of inhabitants. It 
covers an area of fifteen square miles. The annual rental 
of the Metropolis amounts to $125,000,000, and this does 
not include the extensive suburbs by which it is sur- 
rounded and which are so closely connected with it as to 
be almost a part of it. It is estimated that besides hotels 
and boarding-houses whose name is legion, there are 5,000 
public houses and 2,000 beer houses, and their fronts 
would, if planted side by side, reach a distance of seven- 
ty-five miles. London has 3,000 bakers, 2,000 butchers, 
3,000 grocers, 1,600 coffee rooms, 2,000 dairymen, 2,000 
tobacconists, 350 photographic studios. There are 2,000 
physicians, 4,000 shoe and bootmakers, and 3,000 tailors; 
of dressmakers there are 2,000, and houses of worship 
numbering 1,200, where these dresses may be exhibited. 
On landing at the N. VV. R. R. station, we proceeded 
, to Charing Cross Hotel, a favorite stopping place for 
Americans, which we found crowded to its utmost capacity. 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 1 3 

Here I learned, what I afterwards acted upon in Europe, 
that in order to secure good quarters at the first-class 
hotels during the "season," it is always necessary to tele--^ 
graph in advance. We remained a few hours and took a 
view of the immediate neighborhood, which is one of the 
finest in London. There we beheld for the first time the 
beautiful Trafalgar Square, the finest open place in Lon-^- 
don. It is dedicated to Admiral Nelson and commemo- 
rates his death at the naval battle of Trafalgar, Oct. 22, 
1805, gained by the English fleets over the combined 
armaments of France and Spain. In the centre of the 
square rises the massive granite column, one hundred and 
forty feet in height, to the memory of the hero, which is 
crowned with a statue of NelscKi. A statue of Sir Henry 
Havelock, the hero of Lucknow, (and by the way, an emi- 
nent Baptist,) stands on the east side of the Nelson column 
and a statue of Sir Charles Napier on the other side. The 
northeast corner of the square is occupied by an eques- 
trian statue of George IV. On the southeast of the 
square stands an equestrian statue of Charles I., remarka- 
ble for the vicissitudes it has undergone. It was cast in 
1633. It was sold by Parliament to a brazier to be melted 
down, and he sold pretended fragments of it to friends 
and foes of the Stuarts. At the Restoration, however, 
the statue was produced uninjured, and re-erected. In 
Hartshorn Lane, an adjoining street, Ben Johnson, when 
a boy, once lived with his mother and her second hus- 
band, a bricklayer. Having viewed these objects, we 
proceeded to Westminster Palace Hotel, one of the 
finest caravansaries in London, where we secured excel- 
lent rooms and every other accommodation needed. We 
were charmed with our quarters, for right across the street 
stood Westminster Abbey, to the left the houses of Par- 
liament, not far ofT the Tower of London, St. Paul's 
Cathedral, and the London Bridge ; in our rear the beau- 
tiful Park and Palace of St, James. Indeed, we were to 
dwell for a time in the very centre of London's most 
renowned and interesting wonders. 

And now, reader, join our party and go with us as we 
visit, first, England's temple of fame, Westminster Abbey. 



14 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

There it stands, right across the street, lifting its huge, 
sombre, Gothic proportions to the sky, weatherbeaten 
and covered with the moss of many centuries, but grand 
and beautiful still. The total length of the church is 513 
feet ; length of the transept from north to south, 200 
feet; breadth of the nave and aisles, 75 feet; height of 
church, 102 feet ; of tcwers, 225 feet, I always wondered 
why this building was called "Westminster Abbey,'' used 
as it has been for the construction of royal burial vaults 
and a long series of monuments to celebrated men. It 
was for the following reason : A church was erected on 
this spot in honor of St. Peter by the Anglo-Saxon King, 
Sebert, in 616. With the church was constructed a Bene- 
dictine Monastery, or "Minster," which, in reference to 
its position to the west of another Abbey, was called 
Westminster. The old church was destroyed by the 
Danes, and the regular establishment of the Abbey is at- 
tributed to Edward the Confessor, who built a church 
here in 1049, almost as large as the present one, which 
also being destroyed, the Abbey was rebuilt in the latter 
part of the thirteenth century by Henry III. and his son, 
Edward I., who left it substantially as it now stands. At 
the Reformation the Abbey, which had been richly en- 
dowed by former kings, shared the fate of other religious 
houses, the property was confiscated and the church con- 
verted into the cathedral of the bishopric. 

Without detaining the reader longer, we enter by the 
door of the north transept. As we gaze upon the mag- 
nificent interior of this superb structure, and see the 
long line of gorgeous tombs on either side, thinking who 
these "storied urns and animated busts " are designed to 
commemorate, while over all, through beautiful stained 
glass windows a "dim, religious light" is falling, we find 
ourselves " spellbound." But Washington Irving has 
better described this first impression than I can : " The 
space and gloom of this vast ediiice produce a profound 
and mysterious awe ; we step cautiously and softly about 
as if fearful of disturbing the hallowed silence of the 
tomb, while every footfall whispers along the walls and 
chatters among the sepulchres, making us more sensible 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 1 5 

of the quiet we have interrupted. It seems as if the 
awful nature of the place presses down upon the soul and 
hushes the beholder into noiseless reverence. We feel 
that we are surrounded by the congregated bones of the 
great men of past tim^es, who have filled history with 
their deeds and the earth with their renown." It is 
impossible for me to speak of a tenth part of the illus- 
trious ones interred here, (and some who have monuments 
are not here interred,) but a few of the names that 
greatly impressed me I must give. The first name I read 
fills me with awe. It is William Pitt, Lord Chatham, the 
statesman who died in 1778, whose eloquent voice was so 
often raised in deprecation of England's conduct towards 
the American Colonies. Chatham is represented in an 
oratorical attitude with his right hand outstretched ; at 
his feet are sitting two female figures, Wisdom and Cour- 
age, in the centre, Britannia with a trident, to the right 
and left the earth and seas. Lord Mansfield's tomb is 
near by. Above is the Judge on the bench in his ofificial 
robes. Behind the bench is his motto, " Unicequs virtuti," 
with the ancient representation of death and youth bear- 
ing an extinguished torch. We pass by a dozen others 
and come to the tomb of Warren Hastings, Governor- 
General of India in 1818. And now we stand over the 
tomb of Richard Cobden, the politician and champion of 
free trade, in whose honor that great club is named whose 
labors are felt even in America in influencing our popular 
elections. Passing by two dozen splendid monuments, we 
come to the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton. The half re- 
cumbent figure of Newton reposes on a black sarcophagus 
beside which are two small genii unfolding a scroll ; 
below is a relief in marble indicating the labors of the 
deceased ; above is an allegorical figure of astronomy 
upon a large globe. How humble does one feel when 
gazing upon such a scene, especially as he remembers that 
the great Newton said in his last moments, " I know not 
what I may appear to others to have been, but to myself 
I seem as a little child amusing himself in finding now 
and then a smoother shell or prettier pebble than his fel- 
lows, while the great ocean of truth lies unexplored 



1 6 EUROPEAN NOTE?. 

before me." Pasdng other illustrious names, we come to 
the grave of Charles James Fox. The figure of the de- 
ceased lies on a couch, and is supported by the arms of 
Liberty ; at his feet are Peace with an olive branch, and a 
liberated slave. Near by is the tomb of William Pitt, 
the Younger, the renowned statesman ; at the top stands 
the statue of Pitt, as chancellor of the exchequer, in the 
act of speaking; to the right is History listening to his 
words; on the left, Anarchy in chains. The proximity of 
the tombs of Fox and Pitt suggested Scott's well known 
lines : 

" Shed upon Fox's grave the tear, 
'Twill trickle to his rival's bier." 

In the baptistery at the west end we see the tomb of 
William Wordsworth, the poet, forever dead to 

" The orchard, the meadow, the deep tangled wildwood, 
And every loved spot that his infancy knew." 

Many other names we pass till we are arrested by the 
grave and bust of Dr. Isaac Watts, the famous divine 
and hymn writer. John Wesley's monument is in close 
companionship, the great founder of Methodism. 

We now turn to the right and enter the " Poet's Cor- 
ner," by far the most interesting collection I had yet 
seen. There, sleeping together as in a common bed, we 
find George Grote, the historian ; David Garrick, the 
actor ; Isaac Barrow, the theologian ; Joseph Addison, 
the author ; Lord Macaulay, the eloquent historian ; 
Thackeray, the novelist; Handel, the composer; Sir 
Archibald Campbell, the general ; John, Duke of Argyle ; 
Oliver Goldsmith, James Thomson, Robert Southey, 
Thomas Campbell, Thomas Gray, Samuel Butler, Ben. 
Johnson, John Milton, and William Shakespea: e, the poets, 
a bright cluster of intellectual gems that seem to shine 
brighter than ever amid the darkness and sadness of their 
sepulchral home. Here, too, between the statues of 
Addison and Campbell, is the grave of Charles Dickens, 
a name better known and oftener read than nine-tenths 
of those I have mentioned. And as I gazed upon that 
slab, covering his lowly house, 1 could, in fancy, see 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. I7 

perched upon its sides and corners (as I have seen the 
same figures pictured on the sides and corners of the Hds 
of his numerous books,) the familiar forms of David Cop- 
perfield, Martin Chuzzlewit, Nicholas Nickleby, Oliver 
Twist, and the host of other characters that his genius 
introduced to the world, and which he was never ashamed 
to claim as his offspring. John Gay, the poet, has this 
inscription on his tomb, composed by himself: 

" Life is a jest and all things show it; 
1 thought so once, but now I know it." 

We now repair to the chapels, the vaults of royalty, 
which, in so large and magnificent a church, may well be 
imagined as beautiful as they are interesting. The 
chapel of St. Benedict contains many names which, though 
illustrious, are not very familiar to us. In the chapel of 
St. Edmund among many others we find the tombs of 
Lady Jane Seymour, Lord John Russell, and Edward 
Bulwer Lytton. The chapel of St. Nicholas was also 
devoid of any peculiar interest. A flight of twelve black 
marble steps leads to the chapel of Henry VII., a superb 
structure erected in 1520 The roses in the decoration 
of the splendid gates refer to the marriage of Henry 
VII., founder of the Tudor family, with Elizabeth, 
daughter of Edward IV., which united the houses of 
York and Lancaster and put an end to the wars of the 
roses. Washington Irving says of this chapel: "On 
entering, the eye is astonished by the pomp of architec- 
ture and the elaborate beauty of sculptural detail. Th'e 
very walls are wrought into universal ornament, encrusted 
with tracery and scooped into niches crowded with the 
statues of saints and martyrs. Stone seems by the cunning 
labor of the chisel to have been robbed of its weight and 
density, suspended aloft as if by magic, and the fretted 
roof achieved with the wonderful minuteness and airy 
security of a cobweb." So much for looking above ; look- 
ing behind and beneath, what do we see? A cluster of 
graves. and monuments more celebrated perhaps than any 
in the world, granting that those of our Saviour and the 
apostles are not known. First in the southeast part of 

2 



1 8 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

the chapel w-e behold the monument of Lady Margaret 
Douglas, daughter of Margaret, Queen of Scotland, 
granddaughter of Heriry VII., niece of Henry VIII., 
sister of James V. of Scotland, grandmother of James 
VI. of Scotland. Next we gaze upon the tomb of Mary 
Queen of Scots, beheaded in 1587, representing a re- 
cumbent figure, under a canopy in a praying attitude. 
The remains of the queen are buried in a vault below the 
monument. This rostral column before us, with life-size 
figure, is the monument of George Monk, Duke of Albe- 
marle, the restorer of the Stuarts. In the vault in front 
of it are buried Charles II., William III., and Queen 
Mary, his wife. I always took a deep interest in the his- 
tory of this devoted royal pair, -in whose honor our Wil- 
liam and Mary College of Virginia, the alma mater of 
Jefferson and Randolph, was named, and gazed with more 
than usual reverence on their tombs. " They were lovely 
and beautiful in their lives and in their death they were 
not divided.'' Here, too, were buried Queen Anne and 
her consort, Prince George of Denmark. The nave of 
the chapel contains many distinguished monuments, chief 
among them, that of Henry VII., the king to whom this 
splendid chapel is dedicated, and his wife, Elizabeth, of 
York, who lies by his side. This monument occupies the 
centre of the eastern part of the chapel and is enclosed 
by a tasteful brass railing. On the double sarcophagus 
are the recumbent figures of the royal pair in their robes. 
James I., better known by the masses in America than 
any of the kings, (save perhaps George III., from whom 
we rescued our freedom,) on account of his so-called 
translation of the commonly received version of the Bible, 
is buried in the same vault with Henry VII, George II. 
and a number of members of the royal family are here 
buried without monuments. But the most interesting 
monument of all, not on account of its artistic merits, 
but because of the dust it encloses, was next to be seen, 
the monument of Queen Elizabeth, that wonderful woman 
whose reign was the brightest, the most golden of the long 
list of rulers, who had "the body of a weak and feeble 
woman, but the heart and soul of a king, and of a king of 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. I9 

England, too," as she herself said in an address to her 
troops at the time of the Spanish Armada. When she 
-died it is said she exclaimed in terror, " My kingdom for 
one single hour of time," and here she has been lying for 
centuries; "time enough" to repent, surely, if her re- 
pentance could now avail anything. Here, too, are the 
monuments of some deeply interesting children; first, 
Mary, daughter of James I., who died in 1607, at the age 
of two years, in whose honor there is a small sarcophagus 
in the form of a cradle, containing a child, and secondly, 
Edward V., and his brother, the Duke of York, the sons 
•of Edward IV., murdered in the Tower, when children, by 
that miserable, mean, deformed piece of humanity, Rich- 
ard III. We visited the chapels of St. Paul and St. John, 
but saw nothing that specially interested us except the 
large marble monument of General Wolfe, who fell in 
1759 at the capture of Quebec. He is represented sink- 
ing into the arms of a grenadier, while his right hand is 
pressed on his mortal wound. The soldier is pointing 
out to the dying man the Goddess of Fame hovering 
overhead. The chapel of Edward the Confessor, to which 
we ascended by a flight of steps, is worthy of especial 
notice. Here are rich monuments of Henry III., Queen 
Eleanor, wife of Edward I., Edward HI,, Richard II., 
Edward I., and Edward the Confessor, which is still 
beautiful, though greatly marred by relic hunters. Here 
we beheld two interesting relics of the past, of a different 
kind from those we had been so long inspecting : First, 
the old coronation chair of the Scottish kings, and second, 
the new coronation chair made for Queen Mary, wife of 
William III. The former contains under the seat the 
famous stone of Scone, the emblem of the power ot the 
Scottish princes, and traditionally said to be that used by 
the patriarch Jacob as his pillow at Bethel. On the cor- 
onation day the chairs are covered with gold brocade and 
taken into the choir of the Abbey, where they are used 
by the anointed ones. The Jerusalem chamber, so-called 
from the tapestries or pictures of Jerusalem with which 
it is hung, contains frescoes of the death of Henry IV., 
and the coronation of Queen Victoria. It was the scene 



20 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

of the death of Henry IV., to whom there had been a 
prophecy made that he should die in Jerusalem, and 
Shakespeare explains how the prophecy was fulfilled : 

King Henry — '"Doth any name particular belong 
Unto the lodging where I first did swoon ?" 
Warwick — "Yes, called Jerusalem, my noble Lord." 
King Henry — "Laud be to God ! Even there my life must end. 
It hath been prophesied to me many years, 
I should not die but in Jerusalem, 
Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land — 
But bear me to that chamber ; there I'll lie. 
In that Jerusalem shall Harry die." 

There was in that walled city of the dead a new made 
grave, covered with fresh wreaths and flowers, that awak- 
ened our profoundest interest. It was that of the great, 
the good, the generous Dean Stanley, who was buried the 
Sunday before we reached London. The conspicuous 
place he occupied in the chapel of Henry VII., the troops 
of visitors from the city, including deputations from day 
schools, Sunday-schools, orphan asylums, as well as the 
public honors paid to him, all showed that he was no 
ordinary man. 

We attended two religious services in Westminster. 
The first was at ten o'clock in the morning, and while 
disapproving the absurdity and semi-Roman Catholic 
character of much that was done, yet the service was 
most strange and interesting. The notes of that deep 
toned organ, the intoning of the majestic Liturgy, and 
the multitudinous voices of the choir of children, ming- 
ling and rolling through those mystic aisles, vaults and 
lofty arches and over innumerable gravestones covering 
the dust of the great of all ages, made an impression 
upon us such as no language can describe, but must be 
realized to be appreciated. But few persons were present 
at the day service, but on Sunday night the church was 
crowded to its utmost capacity, hundreds being unable to 
secure seats or standing room, as it had been announced 
that Canon Farrar (next to Spurgeon the most popular 
preacher in London) would preach. The preacher seems 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 21 

to be in middle life, tall and spare, with blue eyes, light 
hair, fair complexion, and with a voice deep-toned and 
musical. His discourse was a commemorative address on 
the life and character of the recently deceased Dean Stan- 
ley, and was worthy of the place, the occasion, the preach- 
er, and the subject. 

There are several other places of interest in this imme- 
diate locality that it is impossible not to see when we see 
the Abbey ; such as the Westminster Column, the West- 
minster School, the Westminster Hospital, and the West- 
minster Palace Hotel (formerly a part of the palace), all 
together making this a locality of extraordinary beauty, 
and intensely interesting. 

But we have seen enough for one day, and pass out of the 
church, walk through the large churchyard, solidly and 
evenly paved with tombstones, (every inch of ground 
being utilized,) and into the busy streets, hoping that in 
the morning of the resurrection all who have been sleep- 
ing here, may awake to everlasting life, that none who 
have been so highly honored may awake to shame and 
everlasting contempt. 

ST. Paul's cathedral. 

During my pastorate of Walnut Street Baptist church 
in Louisville, one morning, Mr. Henry Watterson, editor 
of the Courier-Journal, had an article in that paper on 
the beauty of the neighborhood intersected by Fourth 
Avenue and Walnut Street, in which he said that he had 
seen "nothing handsomer than Drs. Wharton and Hop- 
son's churches this side of St. Paul's in London.'' But 
when one stands and gazes upon the magnificence of this 
world renowned cathedral, he wonders how such a com- 
parison could ever have been drawn. The Walnut Street 
church is beautiful, it is true, as beautiful as could be 
built for one hundred thousand dollars ; but St. Paul's 
Cathedral cost five millions of dollars. Walnut Street 
church was two years in building, as well as I remember — 
St. Paul's was thirty five years. Walnut Street is strictly 
Gothic, perhaps the finest specimen of Gothic architec- 



22 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

ture in Louisville ; St. Paul's is not Gothic, but Corinthi- 
an, and the only cathedral in the United Kingdom that 
is not of the Gothic order of architecture. Walnut Street 
has a steeple one hundred and sixty feet high ; the exact 
height of St. Paul's is three hundred and fifty feet above 
the marble pavement, and three hundred and seventy feet 
from the level of the churchyard. Walnut Street can 
seat only about one thousand persons; on the 27th of 
February, 1872, when the Queen and the royal family 
attended a public thanksgiving for the recovery of the 
Prince of Wales from an almost fatal illness^, twelve thou- 
sand persons occupied the cathedral. 

This splendid building is on a historic site, where, it is 
said, in Pagan times a temple of Diana stood ; where a 
church stood in Roman times, built by the Christians of 
that day ; whereon churches, more or less pretentious, 
have been erected, burnt and re erected no less than five 
times ; where, in the Middle Ages, sermons were preached, 
Papal bulls promulgated, heretics made to recant, witches 
to confess, and where the Pope's condemnation of Luther 
was proclaimed in the presence of Cardinal Wolsey; 
which was the scene of Wyckliffe's citation for heresy in 
1337, and of the burning of Tyndale's New Testament in 
1527 ; which was the burial place of a long list of illus- 
trious persons. This cathedral, the most prominent pub- 
lic building in London and the third largest church in the 
world, was designed by that worthy son of England, Sir 
Christopher Wren, who received during the whole period 
of service, from choice, only two hundred pounds, or one 
thousand dollars a year. Above the north door is a tablet 
to his memory with this noble inscription : "Reader, if 
you would seek his monument, look around." We in- 
spected the building carefully and found that, besides 
being the most prominent place of worship in London, it 
is also a second temple of fame, containing many richly 
wrought monuments of celebrated persons. The follow- 
ing is a list of the most prominent persons honored with 
tombs in this costly enclosure : Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
Nelson, Abercrombie, Howe, Rodney, Cornwallis, Bishop 
Heber, Picton, Ponsonby, Dean Milman, John Howard^ 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 23 

Sir Astley Cooper, Lord Lyons, the Duke of Wellington 
and Sir John Moore. As in Westminster, all who have 
monuments are not here interred, though most of them 
are. This is especially true of the last named General, 
who fell at Corunna, the particulars of whose burial are 
familiar to every school-boy : 

"Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, 
As his corse to the ramparts we hurried, 

Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot 
O'er the grave where our hero we buried." 

We were deeply interested in the crypt where rest the 
ashes, in splendid marble sarcophagi, of Admiral Nelson 
and the Duke of Wellington. Close by the gorgeous 
sarcophagus of Wellington is the funeral car in which he 
was borne to his last resting place. This car was made 
out of cannon which he had captured at Waterloo, and 
was drawn by twelve huge horses, (the guide called them 
elephants, and the English draft-horses are almost as large 
as elephants,) through the streets of London, followed by 
an immense procession. Nelson and Wellington, the one 
by sea and the other by land, are looked upon as the 
saviors of their country. As we stood by the sarcopha- 
gus of Wellington, having seen all, and about to retire, 
the guide said : "Now, 1 wish to ask a conundrum of 
the ladies: Why is St. Paul's Cathedral like a bird's 
nest ?'' We gave it up, for though the Bible says, "the 
sparrow hath found a house and the swallow a nest for 
herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, 
O Lord,'' yet we could not see the similitude here. "Be- 
cause," said he with a twinkle in his eye, (and he had 
doubtless told this joke a thousand times,) "it was built by 
a Wren.'' 

The whispering gallery is remarkable for a curious echo. 
A slight whisper is distinctly audible to an ear near the 
wall on the other side, a distance of one hundred and 
eight feet in a direct line, and one hundred and sixty feet 
round the semi-circle. While on this subject of whisper- 
ing galleries, let me say, that in nearly all the great build- 
ings they have a whispering gallery to show. There is 
one in the Pantheon at Paris almost exactly similar in its 



24 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

effect to this. In the dining-room of King William's 
palace at Berlin, there is the finest whispering gallery I 
have seen. A sound from the lips, or clapping of the 
hands, can be distinctly heard repeating itself twenty-four 
times, reverberating through the halls and corridors of 
that immense building. We laughed — oh what a laugh 
was there ! 

"Laughed and the echoes huddling in affright, 
Like Odin's hounds went baying down the night." 

On Sunday we attended a service in St. Paul's, heard 
excellent music, and a mediocre sermon from Canon 
Gregory. A large audience was present. 

SOME NOTABLE DISSENTING CHURCHES. 

I have written extensively of the great central build- 
ings of the Established Church, but as yet have said 
nothing of others which, while not so gorgeous, to thou- 
sands of hearts are dearer than those stupendous piles 
"where marble saints are niched in cathedral walls, and 
through the long drawn aisles and fretted vaults the peal- 
ing anthem swells the note of praise." And what worries 
me is, that the descriptive books of London rarely ever 
mention these humbler sanctuaries, or if at all, it is a bare 
mention. Even Baedeker, now regarded as the world's 
standard, says: "It may not be invidious here to specify 
Dean Stanley, and Canon Farrar of Westminster Abbey, 
and Canon Liddon of St. Paul's Cathedral, as three of 
the most eminent preachers in London," while he makes 
no allusion whatever to Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, the greatest 
preacher in London or the world. But like most Ameri- 
can tourists, I concluded. to disregard Baedeker and go 
where it pleased me, and by no means to slight those 
"dissenting'' brethren who hold "the faith once delivered 
to the saints." Before giving an account of a pilgrimage 
to these shrines, I will state that there, are eight hundred 
churches of the Church of England in London, or its 
immediate vicinity. Of the Non-conformist churches, 
which amount to six hundred in all, two hundred and fif- 
ty are Independent, one hundred and thirty Baptis't, one 
hundred and sixty Wesleyan, and fifty Roman Catholic. 



LICxHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 25 

One visit that I greatly enjoyed was to Wesley's Chap- 
el, a small, but neat building, situated at "Warwick Gar- 
den, Kensington.'' Here the great founder of Methodism 
preached for many years, uttered those truths which were 
destined to almost revolutionize Christendom, and deliv- 
ered those "discourses" that have been so often published 
and so often repeated by the admirers of the great author. 
I entered his pulpit, where he so often stood, his tall form 
erect, with long, white locks flowing over his shoulders, 
"his looks adorning the venerable place," and, as I gazed 
upon the then empty pews, I reflected seriously on his 
great career and dwelt upon the thought of what a mighty 
force he was in the world's progress. At my back was a 
tablet to his memory, stating how long he had been pas- 
tor of the church, and the fresh appearance of everything 
around me indicated that the whole was but the work of 
yesterday, but what mighty events have transpired since 
the voice of "tJie old man eloquent" was there heard. 
Then, Methodism had scarcely a name, and the name it 
had was given by its enemies. Wesley's austere habits at 
Oxford had caused the students and others to say, "a new 
society of Methodists has sprung up,'' in allusion to an 
ancient medical organization st) called. But what is Meth- 
odism now? In that city alone it has one hundred and 
sixty churches and its converts are numbered by hundreds 
of thousands in all lands. One is apt to imagine that such 
a man must have been not only an intellectual prodigy 
but a bustling agitator, when in truth he was quiet, - 
prudent, patient. Robert Hall described him as the 
"quiescence of turbulence — unmoved himself but moving 
everything around him.'' What struck me as peculiarly 
suggestive of the success of his great undertaking, was 
the fact that, though the sect was at first despised, now 
the Lord Mayor of London holds a pew here and is a 
member of this church. Going into the churchyard I beheld 
Wesley's grave, over which a suitable monument has been 
erected. As I stood there enjoying the solemn pleasure, 
I thought of many of my Methodist friends in America 
and wished they could have been by my side. I wanted 
a souvenir from the spot, but it was dif^cult to find. My 



26 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

brother, likewise a minister, was with me, and the sexton, 
seeing our anxiety for some "relic from the tomb of Wes- 
ley," came up with an old broken chalk pipe and said : 
"This is a valuable relic. I was digging here the other day 
and way down in the ground close by the very grave I 
found it." "How much for it?" asked my brother, eager 
to secure the prize. "A shilling," was the reply, and no 
sooner said than the money was paid. I contented my- 
self with buying a photograph of the honored man who 
was the leader of such a great religious movement, who 
for sixty-five years was a devoted minister of the Gospel, 
and whose last words were, "The best of all is, God is 
with us — God is with us." 

Another interesting visit I paid to Whitefield's Taber- 
nacle, "Tabernacle Row, Finsbury," classed in the London 
church directory among the Congregationalists or Inde- 
pendents, though I always regarded Whitefield as a Calvin- 
istic- Methodist. It was pleasant while viewing the scene 
of his labors, to recall the important services which he 
rendered to the cause of truth in America, where his elo- 
quent voice was so often uplifted before audiences of 
attentive thousands, and particularly to think of the Or- 
phan House which he established near Savannah, Georgia, 
constituting one of the ancient landmarks of that historic 
region, and so often visited by tourists while sojourning 
in the "Forest City." 

I visited, also, the church and grave of Rowland Hill, 
one of the most gifted, as well as eccentric preachers that 
ever lived, beneath whose irrepressible fund of humor 
there was always a believing heart, and the "ornament of 
a meek and quiet spirit." With all his bold utterances, 
one of his chief characteristics was humility, for it is said 
he exclaimed on one occasion when he saw a criminal 
going to his execution, "There goes Rowland Hill to the 
gallows without the grace of God." His grave is in a 
vestibule to itself and is covered by a ponderous and hand- 
some slab bearing an appropriate inscription. The church 
has been entirely remodeled and modernized, and is widely 
known as the church of Newman Hall, a celebrated 
preacher who visited America not many years ago. There 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 2/ 

is a very handsome commemorative tablet, with a gor- 
geous inscription, erected at the entrance in honor of 
Abraham Lincohi, President of the United States. Mr. 
Hall, who regards himself as a sort of apostle of freedom, 
collected the money for this object during his visit to 
America. But while commemoration of Lincoln's eman- 
cipation proclamation was the ostensible design, I imagine 
it was a device also by which to increase the fund for 
constructing his church. 

But by far my most interesting and important visit was 
to the Metropolitan Tabernacle, "Newington Butts, close 
to the Elephant and Castle,'' the scene of the labors of 
the world's greatest preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon. Leav- 
ing our hotel by Westminster Abbey, passing the Houses 
of Parliament, and crossing the beautiful Westminster 
Bridge, and Victoria and Albert Embankments, we took a 
tramway car, and after going about two miles, alighted at 
the Elephant and Castle, which, instead of a magnificent 
hotel that we expected to find it, was only a third-rate 
restaurant of a rather dingy and unprepossessing appear- 
ance. From here we had but a short walk to "Spurgeon's 
Tabernacle," which we found rapidly filling up with the 
Thursday night's congregation, for Mr. Spurgeon, to our 
infinite delight, we learned, was present and would preach. 
While Dr. Parker, Newman Hall, and other noted preach- 
ers were off, taking their rest, he, like a faithful soldier, 
was here at his post, though it was in midsummer. The 
building has an imposing exterior, but nothing like so 
impressive as the interior, which impresses the stranger 
with its exact adaptation to the purpose for which it was 
designed, namely, that of a vast audience chamber where 
hungry multitudes were to be fed with the pure bread of 
life. This is a building not to be described as possessing 
naves, transepts, vaults, chapels and crypts, but as con- 
structed in the simplest manner in the ordinary form of 
our churches in America, with three rows of galleries, 
however, extending all around the house. The pulpit, or 
stand, for there is no pulpit, is on a line with the first 
gallery, so that in this case the "sea of faces" below must 
be "upturned" indeed in order to see the preacher. It 



28 EUROPEAN NOTES. ' 

being Thursday night, and many of the congregation 
being off at watering places, only four thousand per sons were 
present. There was no organ and no choir, but a precentor 
led the singing, which was performed b}^ the entire 
congregation. Soon Mr. Spurgeon walked in from a room 
back of the speakc's stand, recognized at once from his 
many likenesses. H-^ seemed the very picture of health, 
with stalwart for»a, rnddy cheeks, laughing blue eyes, but 
as is well known, hi^ health has not been good of late. 
All eyes were upon him. His reading of the hymn, pas- 
sage from the Scriptures, on which he commented as he 
proceeded, and his fervent prayer, all came fully up to 
our expecta^ i^s, and were an earnest of what was in 
store in the sermon. His text was, "I will pray the Lord 
^ that he rain no more rain upon you," and for one hour he 
held that audience spell-bound with a plain, practical, 
earnest, thrilling appeal to their hearts and consciences. 
We were gratified, charmed, delighted, and felt that he 
was fully up to his reputation and deserved all that had 
been said in his favor. 

At the close of the services we sought an interview, 
sending in our cards by one of the deacons. He received 
us most cordially, fatigued and perspiring from the effects 
of the sermon as he was, introduced us to his brother, 
and asked us many questions about ourselves and Ameri- 
ca, that land which he says "lies so near his heart and 
which God has so greatly blessed." He invited us cordi- 
ally to attend on the following Sunday when his whole 
congregation would be present. That service, that ser- 
mon, that interview constituted one of the richest experi- 
ences of my life. Next Sunday was ushered in overcast 
with clouds and soon the rain began to pour down. But 
it was our only Sunday in London, and Spurgeon we must 
hear again. By an arrangement made the day before our 
seats had been secured, and taking a carriage, we were 
soon at the door of the Tabernacle and in our places. As 
we entered we beheld people coming through the rain 
from every direction, the whole region seeming black with 
u mbrellas. All, of course, could not come, but the con- 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 29 

gregation that rainy morning amounted to six thousand 
persons. The singing was unusually fine, the prayer strik- 
ingly impressive, the comments on the chapter a model of 
exposition, and the sermon a masterly effort on the 
Preaching of the Cross. The sermon lasted for an hour 
again, and from the beginning to the close there was not 
the slightest flagging of attention. 

A hundred and one writers have told what, in their 
opinion, is the secret of Spurgeon's great power, and I 
suppose I am entitled to an opinion, too, and I say it is — 
Spurgeon. It is himself and not another that preaches. 
It is that heart, that mind, that spirit, that conception of 
truth and duty, that intense love for the Saviour and for 
sinners, that intuitive knowledge of the responsive chords 
of the human heart, all that and more, that constitute 
the individuality called C. H. Spurgeon, this it is, these 
it is, he it is that moves an audience as nobody else can. 
His power can not be analyzed, cannot be imitated. On 
reaching Coburg I wrote to him and requested a copy of 
the sermon which I had heard with so much pleasure. It 
came promptly by the next mail, and as I read it now, it 
is a pleasure forme to connect each word with the preach- 
er's looks, gestures, articulations, and the very intonations 
of his voice are remembered, so impressed was I with 
his utterances that day. Having heard Spurgeon I feel 
more than ever the truth of the couplet : 

"There's a charm in delivery, a magical art, 
Which speaks like a kiss from the lip to the heart." 

On the previous Saturday I visited his Pastors' College, 
a neat and commodious building only a few steps from 
the rear of his church. In the chapel there is a magnifi- 
cent marble bust of Spurgeon, presented to the College 
by a member of Parliament. The different lecture rooms 
were well arranged, and the College was in successful 
operation. It has turned out hundreds of ministers who 
are preaching the Gospel in every land ; and it is even a 
question whether the great preacher does greater good by 
his church or his college. 



30 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

THE TOWER OF LONDON. 

The Tower, "England's gloomy State Prison," possesses 
a thrilling interest for all visitors to London, chiefly on 
three accounts : ist. Because of its great antiquity ; 2d. 
Because of the celebrated prisoners who have suffered, 
and in many instances, horribly perished there ; and 3d. 
Because of the interesting curiosities there exhibited. 
First, it is over eight hundred years old, having been built 
by William, the Conqueror, in 1078, on the site of an old 
Roman fortress. It is located on the bank of the Thames, 
and covers thirteen acres. It is called the "Tower," but 
I think it should more properly be called the "Towers," 
as there are many towers built to strengthen the double 
thirteen feet thick walls, the whole ground plan being in 
the shape of an irregular pentagon. Only the White 
Tower remains of all the massive, original building with 
which the Norman conqueror overawed the people of 
London and England. It was subsequently extended and 
improved by William Rufus, Henry I., Henry III., James 
I., Charles II., and William III. There are four entrances 
to the Tower. The Traitors' gate, at the end of a sort of 
canal, which ran from the river into the fortress, so call- 
ed because state prisoners used to be conducted by water 
after their trial at Westminster, for safe keeping in the 
Tower. The Iron Gate, Water Gate and Lion Gate, so 
named because the lions of the zoological gardens were 
formerly kept there. It is through this gate that visitors 
are usually admitted, and it was through this that we 
passed to behold these former abodes of wretchedness, 
whose sickening history is a commentary on the depravity 
of human nature. If these old, old stones, gates, walls 
and towers could speak, "they could a tale unfold," whose- 
"lightest words would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy 
blood, make thy two eyes to start from their spheres, and 
each particular hair to stand on end, like quills on the 
fretful porcupine." This brings me to notice, secondly, 
the celebrated prisoners who have suffered and often per- 
ished there. 

Nearly every tower is connected with some horrible 
association of blood, viz. : The Bowyer Tower, in which 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 3 1 

George, Duke of Clarence, was drowned, by order of his 
brother, in a butt of Malmsey wine ; the Brick Tower, in 
which the accomplished, but unfortunate. Lady Jane Grey 
was confined ; Beauchamp Tower, into which Anne Bol- 
eyn was thrown when she had incurred the displeasure of 
that wretch who must, as Dickens says, ever remain a blot 
of blood and grease on the escutcheon of England, Henry 
VIII., who, when his innocent wife's head was severed from 
her body by his order, called his dogs and went out hunting 
as a recreation. There, Lord Dudley, the husband of 
Lady Jane Grey, was also confined, with his father and 
mother. In the Bell Tower, the Princess Elizabeth was 
confined by her sister. Queen Mary. In Wakefield Tow- 
er, Henry VI. was murdered. In the Bloody Tower, the 
sons of Edward IV. were murdered by order of their 
uncle, Richard III., that wretch who was "deformed, un- 
finished, sent before his time into this breathing world, 
half made up, and that so lamely and unfashionable that 
the dogs barked at him" as he passed them. In close 
proximity is the dungeon where that good man, Sir Wal- 
ter Raleigh, was confined, his autograph being still on the 
wall. It is said, that just before his decapitation he ate a 
hearty breakfast, and smoked his pipe, of which he was 
very fond, and then stretching his neck over the block, he 
ordered the executioner to strike. "Is your head lying 
right?'' asked the man. "Ah,'' said Raleigh, "it makes 
but little difference how the head lies so the heart is 
right." In the White Tower, Richard II. abdicated in 
favor of Henry of Bolingbroke, in 1399, ^"^ ^^ was here 
that Prince James, of Scotland, was imprisoned in 1405. 
Here, too, in a dark and forbidding dungeon, the hero of 
Scotland, Sir William Wallace, was confined, one of the 
noblest patriots the world has ever known, whose end 
was, perhaps, the saddest the recoids of even the Tower 
contain. Scotland, overrun by the English and forsaken by 
traitor sons, found alone in the faithful Wallace a defend- 
er. He rallied the scattered patriots, and after success on 
many a hard fought field, re-established the independence 
of his country. At last, he was basely betrayed by some 
of his own people, bound in irons, and sent to the Tower, 



32 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

where he was closely kept till the time of his trial in 
Westminster Hall. His freedom was offered on one con- 
dition, that he would betray Bruce and submit to Edward, 
or in the event of his declining, the most horrible of 
deaths awaited him. He chose the latter, for it was im- 
possible for so honest, honorable and brave a nature to do 
otherwise. He was then ruthlessly taken out of the Tow- 
er by the Traitors' Gate, and hung, after which he was 
drawn and quartered, and the several portions of his body 
hung up on London Bridge as a warning to all who would 
dare defy the power of Edward. But his spirit still lived 
in the royal heart of Bruce, his idol and his friend, and at 
the battle of Bannockburn his name was rescued from 
obloquy, his principles triumphed, the power of England 
was broken, Bruce, the object of his prayers and labors, 
was restored to the throne, and the red lion, finding in the 
Highlands an uncongenial clime, was sent growling back 
to live among the white cliffs of Albion. No wonder 
that the patriot bard. Burns, in invoking a blessing for his 
beloved country, remembered the name of that country's 
greatest benefactor : 

"O thou that poured the patriotic tide 

That flowed through Wallace's undaunted heart !" 

Many other celebrated persons were for a longer or short- 
er time confined in the Tower: John Baliol, king of Scot- 
land ; David Bruce, king of Scotland ; John, king of 
France ; Duke of Orleans, father of Louis XH. of France ; 
Lord Cobham, the most distinguished of the Lollards, 
burned as a heretic at St. Giles in the fields ; Ann Askew, 
tortured in the Tower and burned in Smithfield as a her- 
etic; Archbishop Cranmer, Sir Thomas Wyatt, beheaded 
on Tower Hill ; Earl of Southampton, Shakespeare's 
patron; Earl of Stratford, beheaded in 1683 ; Lord Chan- 
cellor Jeffreys, Duke of Marlborough, and others. 

Talk we of the "dark and bloody ground ?'' It is not 
Kentucky. It is not St. Domingo. It is the Tower of 
London. And all the waters that lave England's shores^ 
poured in through the "water gate," could never wash 
those stains out. They would "rather the multitudinous 
seas incarnadine, making the green one red." 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 33 

I come in the third place to speak of the curiosities 
exhibited at the Tower. The most extensive of these we 
witnessed first in the Horse Armory, a gallery 150 feet in 
length, containing numerous trophies on the walls. The 
centre of the gallery is occupied by 22 equestrian figures 
in full armor equipment, affording a faithful and interest- 
ing picture in chronological order of English war array 
from the time of Edward I. to James II., enabling the 
visitor also to picture to his imagination the knights errant 
and tournaments of the age of chivalry. 

Here we viewed a strange and interesting wardrobe 
— a suit of armor dating from the time of Edward I., 
1272, a suit of the time of Henry VI., tournament suit 
of the time of Edward IV., a knight's suit of the time of 
Richard III., a suit of Burgundian armor of the time of 
Henry VII., a suit of richly ornamented armor actually 
worn by Henry VIII., a suit worn by Robert Dudley, 
Earl of Leicester, favorite of Queen Elizabeth, the armor 
bearing his initials and, crest ; a magnificent suit of Ger- 
man workmanship, presented by the Emperor Maximilian 
to Henry VIII. on the occasion of his marriage with 
Catherine of Aragon ; a suit of armor worn by Charles 
I. ; a suit richly inlaid with gold belonging to Henry, 
Prince of Wales, eldest son of James I. ; a suit of George 
Monk, restorer of the Stuarts. The last mounted figure 
wears a light suit of armor that belonged to James II., 
after whose time armor was scarcely worn. Interspersed 
among the armor are numerous weapons of the periods 
represented, instruments of torture, thumb screws, stocks, 
the head piece with rams' horns of the court-fool of Hen- 
ry VIII. Near the middle is the veritable block on which 
Lord Lovat, the last person beheaded in England, suffer- 
ed the penalty of high treason, and a little further on is a 
beheading axe said to be that with which the Earl of Sus- 
sex was decapitated. At the foot of the staircase is a 
case containing the cloak on which Gen. Wolfe died before 
Quebec. To the right are two drums captured at the 
battle of Blenheim, and many other curiosities deeply 
interesting, but too tedious to mention. 

In the Wakefield tower we beheld a dazzling array of 
3 



34 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

curiosities, which are celebrated the world over. It con- 
sisted of nothing less than the Regalia, or Crown Jewels, 
whose splendor and value convey a striking idea of the 
pomp and pride of royalty. First, we beheld St. Edward's 
crown, executed for the coronation of Charles II., and 
used at all subsequent coronations. This was the crown 
stolen in 167 1 by Col. Blood and his associates, who gag- 
ged and overpowered the keeper, but the bold robbers did 
not succeed in escaping with their booty. Here, too, is 
Queen Victoria's crown, made in 1838, a master piece of 
the goldsmith's art. It is adorned with no fewer than 
2,788 diamonds, the large ruby in front said to have been 
given to the Black Prince in 1367 by Don Pedro, of Cas- 
tile, and was worn by Henry V. on his helmet at the 
battle of Agincourt. It also contains a very large sap- 
phire. The Prince of Wales' crown is of pure gold and 
gorgeous in the extreme. The Queen Consort's crown is 
of pure gold set with most splendid jewels. The Queen's 
crown, embellished with diamonds and pearls, was made 
for Madame d'Este, wife of James II. St Edward's stafT, 
made of gold, is four and one half feet long, and weighing 
ninety pounds. The orb at the top is said to contain a 
piece of the true cross. The royal sceptre, with the cross 
two feet nine inches long, is richly adorned with precious 
stones. The sceptre of the dove or rod of equity, having 
above the orb a dove with outstretched wings, is a mar- 
velous piece of workmanship. Queen Victoria's sceptre 
and the sceptre of Queen Mary, wife of William III., are 
models of unique and artistic beauty. The Kohinoor imi- 
tation (mountain of light) one of the largest diamonds in 
the world, weighing 162 carats, was a curiosity worth 
seeing, for the original is at Windsor Castle. 

The salt cellar of slate, in the form of the White Tow- 
er, is a curious and costly piece of workmanship. The 
silver baptismal font of the royal children is also shown, 
and the gold basin used in the distribution of the Queen's 
alms. The total value of this regalia is $15,000,000. But 
to me by far the most interesting curiosities exhibited 
were of a different kind. 

First, we were shown under a staircase in the wall of 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 35 

the White Tower, the very spot where the bones of the 
two young princes, murdered by their uncle, were found. 
That was one of the saddest, most revolting incidents in 
the whole history of the world. Children are naturally 
timid, and then to be shut up for weary months amid the 
darkness, damps, and gloom of that miserab'e place, at 
last by a ruffian employed by their own uncle, to be 
smothered in bed, with no one near to speak a kind wor^ 
or render any assistance, is too terrible to think of; and 
all this to gratify the ambition of a mean wretch, who, 
had he lived in the time of our Saviour and it had suited 
his purpose, would doubtless have played the part of Ju- 
das Iscariot. 

Secondly, we had pointed out to u& Tower Hill hard by 
the prison, where formerly stood the scaffold for the exe- 
cution of traitors. The execution took place in the Tower 
itself, only in the case of Anne Boleyn, Catherine How- 
ard, Lady Jane Grey and Devereaux, Earl of Essex ; in all 
other instances, the prisoners were beheaded at this place 
of execution. That ground on which we gazed was indeed 
a dark and bloody ground, "soaked again and again with 
the best blood of England." The place has some other 
interesting associations. Here William Penn, the great 
American pioneer, was born, and here Otway, a dramatic 
poet, second only to Shakespeare, languished out a miser- 
able existence, at last almost dying of starvation ; here, 
too, the wife of Sir Walter Raleigh lodged, while her 
husband languished in the tower. 

Lastly, we saw the little burial ground adjoining the 
chapel of St. Peter ad vi7icula where the unfortunate vic- 
tims of the Tower were interred. Ad Vinada is a very 
good name for a church erected here, but Aceldama, "the 
field of blood," or Golgotha, "the place of skulls," it 
struck me, would be better. Macaulay, in speaking of it 
says ; "In truth, there is no sadder spot on earth than 
this little cemetery. Death is there associated, not as in 
Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's, with genius and virtue, 
with public veneration and with imperishable renown, not 
as in our humblest churches and churchyards, with every- 
thing that is endearing in social and domestic characters ; 



36 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

but with whatever is darkest in human nature and in 
human destiny, with the savage triumph of implacable 
enemies, with the inconstancy, the ingratitude, the cow- 
ardice of friends, with all the miseries of fall<=^n greatness, 
and of blighted fame." Here were interred Sir Thomas 
More, Queen Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cromwell, Earl of 
Essex, Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, Queen Catherine 
Howard, Lord Admiral Seymour, Lord Somerset, the 
Protector, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Lady 
Jane Grey and her husband, Lord Dudley, Robert Dever- 
eaux. Earl of Sussex, all of whom were beheaded ; Sir 
Thomas Overbury, poisoned in the Tower, Sir John El- 
iot, who died as a prisoner in the Tower, James Fitzroy, 
Duke of Monmouth, Simon, Lord Lovat, both beheaded. 
Truly then there is no sadder spot than this, none around 
which so many painful memories cluster. Gray's admira- 
ble and beautiful elegy, "written in a country churchyard," 
would not be appropriate here, 

"In this neglected spot (indeed) was laid 

Some hearts once pregnant with celestial fire, 

Hands which the rod of empire had swayed 
And waked to ecstasy the living lyre." 

Though condemned by their fellows, let us hope that 
they were acquitted by their God, at whose awful bar 
their cases have long since undergone an impartial review, 
and here Grey is appropriate : 

"Yet seek we not their merits to disclose 

Nor draw their frailties from their dread abode, 

Where they alike in trembling hope repose, 
The bosom of their Father and their God." 

MADAME TUSSAUD'S GALLERY. 

We had heard much of this place, particularly of the 
"Chamber of Horrors," and no visitor to London feels 
that he has completely done the city until he has caught 
a glimpse of the wonders of this strange and unique col- 
lection. We were led there, prompted by something of 
that curiosity which makes men gather in court rooms 
when criminals are tried, read "blood and murder" stories, 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 37 

or gaze on scenes in which the law wreaks its vengeance 
on the condemned. We were disappointed in finding the 
greater part of the immense building taken up with wax 
figures of celebrated personages, not only of England but 
of the whole world. Here we beheld the royal family 
attired in costumes as costly and elegant as those they 
really wear ; distinguished members of Parliament, and 
the great historical, military, literary and clerical charac- 
ters of the country. Here, too, was a room devoted to 
the kings, dressed just as they were when they "strutted 
and fretted their little hour upon the stage." America is 
well represented. One of the first who greets us is 
George Washington, looking as natural and life-like as 
Houdon's statue. Here, too, we found Presidents Lin- 
coln and Garfield, and other distinguished men of America, 
France was represented by some of her later emperors 
and empresses, with their children, and a few eminent 
statesmen. The Prince Imperial had especially a distin- 
guished place in these groups. There were representa» 
tives also from Turkey, Persia, Egypt, and "the Isles of 
the Sea." Now, I have always been prejudiced against 
wax figures, and always feel on visiting exhibitions of 
them that I have been 'sold," but it must be confessed 
that Madame Tussaud's is the finest collection in the 
world, and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The 
figures in the "Chamber of Horrors" are simply horrible 
in the extreme. They consist of the great criminals of all 
countries who have achieved a world-wide notoriety for 
their awful and revolting deeds of crime.. And they are 
said to be exactly like those whom they are designed to 
represent. Here are to be seen the assassins of emperors, 
kings and presidents, prominent among whom stands the 
repulsive figure of Guiteau, the murderer of President 
Garfield. To give an idea as to how true these figures all 
are to nature, when we entered the ante-room I inquired 
for the doorkeeper. "There he stands," said my little 
son, pointing to a figure standing at the door, clad in an 
elegant black sjit, with hair neatly combed. It turned 
out to be the wax figure of Charles Dickens. In a room 
adjoining the "Chamber of Horrors," there is a darker 



38 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

and more horrible chamber yet, containing the gallows on 
which many notorious persons were hung, with their fig 
ures all standing by it. Here, too, was a model of the 
guillotine from the original drawings of M. Sansom, of 
Paris ; and in consequence of his invention, the family of 
Sansom were the hereditary executioners for many gener- 
ations. Here, too, is a model of the Bastile, or old State 
prison in Paris, whose ruins I visited during my sojourn 
in the French capital. In this dark room I beheld one of 
the most celebrated relics in the world, the original knife, 
and Larette, the identical instrument that decapitated 
twenty-two thousand people, among whom were Louis 
XVL, Marie Antoinette, Madame Elizabeth, the Duke of 
Orleans, Robespierre, and others who constituted the best 
blood of France. While the guillotine was invented by 
M. Sansom, Guillotin, a French physician, brought it into 
use by mechanical improvements, and it received his name 
only adding the final e. Leaving the "Chamber of 
Horrors," we dwelt with greater interest on a room con- 
taining relics of the great Napoleon. Here is the cele- 
brated carriage in which he was taken at Waterloo, and 
also the military carriage used by Napoleon HL in the 
Franco-Prussian war, and in which he was driven a prisoner 
of war to Germany. The following articles are also here 
shown: Napoleon's whip; camp bedstead, used by him 
during his seven years' imprisonment at St. Helena, with 
the mattress and pillow on which he died ; coronation robe 
of Napoleon ; robe of the Empress Josephii:ie ; three 
original eagles taken at the battle of Waterloo ; favorite 
garden chair, used by Napoleon at St. Helena; travelling 
case, in which was carried Napoleon's mattress and pillow ; 
State carriage of the Emperor, built for his coronation as 
King of Italy; sword, used by Napoleon during his cam- 
paign in Egypt ; gold watch, presented by Napoleon to 
his valet; a cameo ring, presented by Napoleon to Prince 
Lucien ; a diamond, found in the carriage when it was 
captured ; tooth brush from Napoleon's dressing case ; 
necktie used by Napoleon at St. Helena ; counterpane, 
used on the camp bed on which Napoleon died, stained 
tvitii his blood ; coffee cup, snuff box, spoon, all used by 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 39 

him, and a tooth of Napoleon, who, it is said, was a victim 
to what Burns calls that "hell of all diseases;" complete 
suit of clothes, worn by the Emperor at St. Helena ; the 
celebrated atlas, used by Napoleon, in which are plans of 
several battles drawn with his own hand ; and a piece of 
the celebrated willow tree under which he used to sit, and 
where he was afterwards buried. As we gazed on these 
interesting relics, we really felt as if we were in the pre- 
sence of '' the world's great general,'' who sprang from 
bondage, and left behind him a name which eclipsed even 
the glory of Alexander and Caesar: 

"Yet, spirit immortal, where now are thy legions, 

That fought but to conquer when thou led'st them on ? 

Alas ! they have perished in far hilly regions. 
And all save the fame of their triumphs is gone." 

On entering, I asked one of the managers if Madame 
Tussaud was then present, as I wished to see the originator 
and proprietor of so costly and interesting a collection. 
" No, sir," said he, " Madame Tussaud has been dead for 
fifty years." The establishment is now conducted by her 
sons, men well advanced in life. 

A TRAMP THROUGH LONDON. 

"Why are you waiting so long ?" said a gentleman from 
the South to a friend who was visiting New York with 
him, who proposed to go out shopping, and whom he 
beheld patiently standing "on the steps of the Astor." 
"I am waiting for the procession to pass^'' said this friend. 
And really Broadway is a crowded, rushing, roaming, be- 
dering thoroughfare, 

"I stood on the steps of the Astor, 
And gazed at the living tide," 

said Saxe in one of his poems. How like a sea of living 
beings it is, ever floating along and beating against its 
high, brick-bound shores. But, reader, will you believe 
me when I tell you that even Broadway is tame compared 
with some of the busy thoroughfares of London ? Gaze 
out on Fleet, Piccadilly, Cheapside or Regent, and there 



40 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

you behold a procession indeed, only it is a procession 
going both ways at the same time, and a very disorderly 
procession at that, for you are one moment almost hustled 
and jostled off the sidewalks, and the next run over by a 
thousand and one vehicles ever dashing along, when they 
are not in collision or fast locked up, as they pursue 
each other in quick and never-ending succession ;. 
and then the cracking of whips, the yells and oaths of 
the coachmen, added to the rattling of wheels, the 
patter of feet, and innumerable other street noises, 
make you feel that you have reached Bedlam at last, and 
stopped in its centre of business, which, indeed, you have. 
Yet visit these renowned streets, and examine some of 
the most wonderful stores we must ; so we elbowed our 
way along as best we could, running for dear life across 
the crossings, occasionally aided by a policeman, now 
entering a carriage, and now a tramway car, and now 
mounted on the top of one of the numerous large omni- 
buses always plying the streets of London. In this way 
we went repeatedly from one end to the other of Pall 
Mall, Piccadilly, Fleet street, the Strand, Thames street, 
Regent, Cheapside, Oxford, Hampstead, Holborn, through 
Bishopsgate street over London Bridge into Southwark, 
along by the beautiful embankments of the Thames, in 
every direction, and through the various parks whose 
names are as familiar as household words in America. 
With an experienced guide seated by our side, all the 
principal streets and buildings were pointed out, and 
when we got through with those repeated tramps, we felt 
that we had a pretty good idea of London. 

The leading objects of interest we, of course, stopped 
to inspect. Prominent among these was London Bridge, 
one of the largest granite bridges in the world, finished 
in 1831 at a cost of $10,000,000. It consists of five arch- 
es, is 928 feet in length and 54 in width. It is said that 
one hundred thousand persons and twenty th(,)usand 
vehicles pass over it every day. From the Bridge we had 
a beautiful prospect of the docks and shipping of the 
Thames, St. Paul's cathedral and other notable build- 
ings. Near the Bridge is the tall tower built in com- 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 4I 

memoration of the great fire of 1666, which destroyed 
the greater part of London. This tower is 292 feet in 
height, and Pope's well known couplet in regard to it is 
very appropriate : 

"Where London's column, pointing to the skies. 
Like a tall bully, lifts its head and lies ;" 

for an ancient inscription on the column attributes the fire 
to "ye Popish faction," when that was in truth not the 
cause of it. 

Not far from the column, the male portion of our party 
visited the notorious Billingsgate street, the great fish 
market of London, a street so narrow, so dirty, so 
crowded with the lowest characters in the world, so 
reeking with the smell of fish, and vocal with the oaths of 
the abandoned creatures that traffic here, that we were 
glad to get away from it, impressed, however, with the 
true and lawful origin of that word which is at once the 
most suggestive and impressive to describe a certain class 
of English invective — namely. Billingsgate. It is said 
that this street derived its name from one Belin, an ancient 
king of the Britons. 

Another place that interested us was Newgate prison^ 
the principal prison of London, now used for felons alone^ 
but formerly for debtors also. The public place of exe- 
cution, which was formerly at Tyburn, near Hyde Park, 
was afterwards in front of this prison. Among the cele- 
brated and notorious prisoners once confined in Newgate, 
were Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe ; Wil- 
liam Penn, the founder of Peimsylvania ; and Jack Shep- 
pard, the notorious highwayman whose romantic history 
has so often interested the depraved taste of English and 
American youth. Not far from this prison is an alley 
opening into Newgate street, in which is the figure of a 
boy, sitting upon a "panier,'' with the inscription — 

"When ye have sought the city round, 
Yet still this is the highest ground." 

A little to the west of Newgate is the Holborn viaduct, 
finished in 1869, and suggestive, as is also the street 



42 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

"Holborn," of the cockney origin of its name. The 
creek rising on Holborn hill was originally called "Old 
Bourne," because, we suppose, it was an old boundary. 
Then the cockney, in pronouncing it, called it "Hole- 
bourne," which was afterwards spelled Holborn. At the 
eastern extremity stands St. Sepulchre's church, where a 
knell is tolled every time a prisoner is executed at New- 
gate. At one time a bouquet was presented at this church 
to every criminal on his way to his execution. In the 
choir lie the remains of Captain John Smith, of Virginian 
and Pocahontas memory, "sometime governor of Virginia 
and admiral of New England." The first line of his epi- 
taph, which can scarcely be read, is, "Here lies one con- 
quered that hath conquered kings." 

We visited the Mansion House, the official residence of 
the Lord Mayor, who entertains more people and gives 
more elegant dinners than many kings ; the Royal Ex- 
change, where the celebrated Lloyds, the masters of 
steamship navigation, have their splendid apartments ; in 
front of which there is a magnificent statue of the Duke 
of Wellington, and near by, one of George Peabody, the 
American philanthropist. Mr. Peabody was an American 
merchant who spent much of his time in London, and 
besides his munificent donations in his own country, gave 
upwards of two million, five hundred thousand dollars 
for the erection of suitable dwellings for the working 
classes of London. The number of persons accommo- 
dated in the Peabody buildings is about nine thousand, 
each family paying a weekly rent of a little over a dollar, 
which includes the use pf bath and wash-houses. Trus- 
tees manage the fund in London the same as in America, 
and it now amounts to considerably over three millions of 
dollars. Mr. Peabody declined a baronetcy offered by the 
Queen, but accepted a miniature portrait of Her Majesty ; 
so says my informant. 

While on the subject of money I may as well mention 
that I visited the peculiar home and dwelling-place of 
gold — the Bank of England, a strong looking building 
with no windows in the outer walls, and covering four 
acres. This bank, I was surprised to learn, is a joint stock 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON, 43 

bank, starting originally with 1,100,000 dollars capital, 
but now having between fifteen and twenty millions. 
It employs nine hundred persons and pays largely over a 
million of dollars in salaries. I called it the home of 
gold ; the vaults never contain less than eighty or a hun- 
dred millions of dollars in gold and silver, and there are 
one hundred millions of dollars of the bank's paper mon- 
ey in circulation. The bank receives one million dollars 
a year for managing the national debt, which is over a 
billion of dollars, and may be indefinitely increased by 
the wars in Egypt. 

London has an advantage over New York in having a 
beautiful river run through its centre, spanned by beauti- 
ful and artistic bridges, and adorned with embankments, 
such as the Victoria and Albert, which constitute the most 
delightful of drives and promenades. On one of these 
stands Cleopatra's needle, sister monolith to those in 
Central Park, New York, Alexandria, Paris and Rome. 
These monoliths were originally brought from Heliopolis, 
which, as we are informed by the Flaminian obelisk at 
Rome, contained many obelisks. 

The Albert Memorial, erected in memory of the Prince 
Consort, Queen Victoria's devoted husband, is one of the 
most beautiful monuments, perhaps, in the whole world. 
It is 175 feet high, ornamented with numerous small 
statues, with allegorical representations of Europe, Asia, 
Africa and America. It cost six hundred thousand dol- 
lars, and bears this inscription : "Queen Victoria and her 
people, to the memory of Albert, Prince Consort, as a 
tribute of their gratitude for a life devoted to the public 
good." Queen Victoria's city residence, Buckingham 
Palace, we could not enter, but had a good external-view 
together with the gardens. Permission is only given to 
visit the picture galleries. The Queen's rooms are on the 
north side and are represented as being superbly furnish- 
ed, but she spends most of her time at Windsor, fifteen 
miles from London, and in summer at Osborne and Bal- 
moral. It was interesting to gaze on this old building 
and to reflect that here lived the "Duke of Buckingharn," 
and that it was subsequently purchased and occupied by 



44 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

George III., Queen Victoria's grandfather, whom our 
forefathers "heard of" if they did not personally 
know him, and who in turn heard of our forefathers. 
While they could boast no Buckingham Palace for royal 
banqueting, they had at least a Faneuil Hall, the saloon 
of a "Tea Party," whose memory is still fragrant in the 
minds of all true Americans, and destined to outlive the 
centuries ! 

We had in our party a culti\^ated young lawyer, who 
manifested a strong desire to see the Temple and its sur- 
roundings, so we went there — the most interesting place 
in London to lawyers. An additional incentive was the 
fact that I was a Knight Templar, which order, founded 
at Jerusalem in the twelfth century under Baldwin, king 
of Jerusalem, to protect the Holy Sepulchre and poor 
pilgrims resorting thither, had here a large and flourishing 
lodge, which gave the name to the locality borne through 
so many centuries. In 1346 it was leased to the students 
of common law, and from that time the group of build- 
ings extending down to the Thames has continued as a 
law school. It is divided into the Inner and Middle 
Temples, and the revenue received amounts to about two 
hundred thousand dollars a year. Oliver Goldsmith was 
buried here in the churchyard of the Temple church. In 
the Temple gardens, adjacent to the Thames, were pluck- 
ed the white and red roses which were assumed as the 
distinctive badges of the houses of York and Lancaster 
in the bloody contest known in history as the "Wars of the 
Roses." At least, we have Shakespeare's authority for 
this statement in Henry VI., Part First, Act 2 : 

Plantagenet : Great lords and gentlemen, what means this silence ? 

Dare no man answer in a case of truth ? 

Suffolk : Within the Temple hall we were too loud ; 

The garden here is more convenient. 

Plantagenet : Since you are tongue tied, and so loath to speak, 

In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts ; 

Let him that is a true born gentleman, 

And stands upon the honor of his birth, 

If he suppose that I have pleaded truth. 

From off this briar pluck a white rose with me. 

Somerset ; Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 45 

But dare maintain the party of the truth, 
Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me. 

Warwick : This brawl to-day, 

•Grown to this faction in the Temple garden, 
Shall send, between the red rose and the white, 
A thousand souls to death and endless night. 

In the hall of the Middle Temple Shakespeare's Twelfth 
Night was acted in the poet's lifetime. In Middle Tem- 
ple Lane, No. 2, Brick Court, Oliver Goldsmith lived and 
died ; Blackstone, the great commentator on English law, 
lived in the rooms below him ; Dr. Johnson occupied 
rooms in Inner Temple Lane ; Lord Bacon was a member 
of Gray's Inn, near by, and with his own hand planted a 
number of trees now seen in the garden. The Old Tem- 
ple Bar, where the heads of criminals were formerly 
exposed, has been torn down, though we stood on the 
very spot where it was erected. And we were here in 
close proximity to the "Devil's Tavern," where the Apol- 
lo Club, of which Dr. Johnson and his contemporaries 
were members, regularly met. It was indeed a historic 
and interesting spot, and while most of the ancient houses 
have disappeared, and the whole locality is being 
remodelled, yet I could now and then see a house which 
my imagination pictured as the one where Goldsmith 
boarded, where his landlady, with patience exhausted at 
his long neglected payment, is about to have him thrown 
into prison, while Dr. Johnson comes in at the critical 
moment and reads, in the presence of the enraged hostess 
and dejected and impecunious author, the manuscript 
pages of the "Vicar of Wakefield," which was destined 
not merely to keep him from prison, but to delight the 
whole world with its homely but deeply interesting sketch- 
es of English life. The poet lived surrounded by clouds, 
darkness and penury, but let us hope that his high intel- 
lectual nature and exalted talents proved a source of 
•enjoyment to him of which the common world was neither 
capable nor conscious. Let us hope that he was in 
reality, though not so intended, the antetype of his own 
beautiful figure in the "Deserted Village : " 



46 EUROPEAN NOTES, 

"As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form. 
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, 
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 



PARLIAMENT. 

The Parliament buildings, situated on the bank of the 
Thames, within a stone's throw of Westminster Abbey^ 
and covering an area of eight acres, present a strikingly 
beautiful appearance. I can not say that the building, 
as a whole, is as beautiful as our Capitol at Washington, 
which Talmage well describes as a "dream of architectu- 
ral beauty," but it is worthy of the great country it 
adorns, and arrayed with all the magnificence and taste 
that boundless wealth and mechanical skill could supply. 
The buildings, with the exception of Westminster Hall 
which forms a part of them, are comparatively new, 
having been erected since 1840. Up to i860 ten millions 
of dollars had been expended upon them, and the entire 
cost so far is said to be fifteen million dollars. It con- 
tains eleven courts, one hundred staircases and eleven 
hundred apartments. The clock tower is 318 feet high, 
the middle tower 300, and the Victoria tower, through 
which the Queen enters on opening and closing Parlia- 
ment, is 340 feet high. The large clock has foui dials 
twenty-three feet in diameter, and each dial has a minute 
hand sixteen feet long whose point describes a circum- 
ference of seventy-two feet every hour. It takes five 
hours to wind up the striking parts. The great bell, 
known as " Big Ben," weighs thirteen tons, and there are 
attached four beautiful chime bells. 

The Houses of Parliament were in session when I was 
there, and having but recently left the Capitol at Wash- 
ington where Congress was in session, I was intending to 
compare the performances of the two great bodies. And 
having heard Senators B. H. Hill, Conkling and others, 
not omitting our peerless Senator Brown, in their best 
efforts, the comparison was by no means unfavorable to 
our country. 1 hey were occupied at the time with the 
case of a Mr. Bradlaugh, an Infidel member who had 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 47 

given much trouble and was at last unseated. The halls 
and corridors were densely crowded, and I was glad to 
make my escape to view the rich frescoes and statues 
with which the buildings are ornamented. 

I entered through the celebrated Westminster Hall, 
which is only used now as a vestibule to the stupendous 
pile, but which has a more interesting history than all the 
other buildings combined. This Hall is part of the ancient 
palace of Westminster, founded by the Anglo Saxon kings 
and occupied by their successors down to the time of 
Henry VHI. In it was held the Parliament which de- 
clared Edward H. to have forfeited the crown. Here 
Richard H. was deposed. In this Hall were held the cor- 
onation festivities of all the kings down to George IV. 
Edward III. here entertained the prisoners, King David 
of Scotland, and King John of France. Here Charles I. 
underwent his trial and was condemned to death ; here 
Oliver Cromwell, wearing the royal purple lined with 
ermine, and holding a golden sceptre, was saluted as Lord 
Protector. Within eight years afterward the Protector's 
body was dragged from its grave in Westminster Abbey 
and thrust into a pit at Tyburn, while his head was ex- 
posed on the pinnacle of this same Westminster Hall, 
where it remained for thirty years. At length it was 
blown down in a storm. After some years, the family of 
the sentry who picked it up sold it to a descendant of 
Cromwell, and it passed finally into the possession of Dr. 
Wilkinson, one of whose descendants, living at Seven 
Oaks, is said to now possess it. Many other celebrated 
persons were condemned to death in this Hall, which, 
more than almost any building I had visited, caused me 
to linger with the deepest interest. The brave champion 
of Scotland, Sir William Wallace, was here " tried " and 
condemned, though that trial was mere mockery. Most 
of those who were imprisoned in the Tower had their so- 
called trials in this Hall. Here, too, was tried Lord Byron, 
grand uncle of the poet, for killing Mr. Chaworth in a 
duel; and here Warren Hastings was acquitted after a 
trial lasting seven years. The last public festival held in 
the Hall was the coronation of George IV., " when the 



48 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

King's champion, in full armor, rode into the Hall, and, 
according to an ancient custom, threw his gauntlet on the 
floor, challenging to mortal combat any one who might 
dispute the title of the sovereign." 

WHITEHALL. 

Not far from the Parliament buildings, on Whitehall 
street, running to Trafalgar Square, stands the Banquet- 
ing Hall, all that remains of the ancient palace of White- 
hall, formerly known as York House, because the 
Archbishops of York lived there, but after the downfall of 
Wolsey, called Whitehall, as we read in Shakespeare's 
Henry VHI.: 

" Sir, you 
Must no more call it York Place, that is past, 
For since the Cardinal fell, that title's lost ; 
'Tis now the King's and called — Whitehall." 

Like Westminster Hall, this spot is connected with some 
of the most important and tragic incidents in English his- 
tory. It was here that Henry VHI. became enamored of 
Anne Boleyn, at a ball given in honor of that King; and 
here he died. It was from this place that Elizabeth was 
carried a prisoner to the Tower, and to it she returned as 
Queen of England. It was here that Cardinal Wolsey 
revelled, flourished, and was at last disgraced ; and as I 
gazed upon the building, a solemn, earnest, strange voice 
seemed to issue from its ancient recesses, saying, " Oh ! 
Cromwell, had I but served my God as I have my king 
and country, he would not now leave me desolate." Here, 
too, was a lesson for all who love the praise of men more 
than the praise of God : " Why was my choice ambition ? 
By that sin fell the angels. How then can man, the image 
of his Maker, hope to win by it? Let all the ends thou 
aimest, at be thy country's, thy God's and truth's, and then, 
O ! Cromwell, if thou fallest, thou fallest a blessed mar- 
tyr." From an opening in the wall, between two windows 
in the front of this same Banqueting Hall, Charles I. was 
led out to his execution in the street immediately oppo- 
site. Here Oliver Cromwell lived with his secretary, John 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 49 

Milton, and here he died. Some of the most profligate of 
England's courts, notably that of Charles II., were held 
here, and, in imagination, we could see the gay, giddy, 
guilty forms of kings, queens, and courtiers, as with un- 
bridled appetite and lust, they moved to and fro in the 
gorgeous chambers and made it resound with their God-. 
defying revelries. But the finger of God has long since- 
inscribed " Tekel " on those palace walls. The guilty Bel- 
shazzars,'with their lords, their wivesand their concubines,' 
have passed away; and that Banqueting Hall stands as. 
a monument of the barbarous and wicked age in which it 
was erected ; and as a grim sentinel, warning all subse- 
quent monarchs of those rocks of crime on which the Ship, 
of State is so often wrecked and destroyed. 

BRITISH MUSEUM, ETC. 

We visited the celebrated British Museum, but can give 
only a meagre account of the objects that most interested 
us. To write it up properly would take a month, a year, 
a life-time. It is perhaps the most extensive and wonder- 
ful collection of curiosities on the face of the globe. In 
Europe every town and city has its museum, and some of 
these, notably in Paris, Rome and Naples, may excel this 
one in certain specialties — Rome in sculptures, for exam- 
ple ; but taking the British Museum for all in all, the 
extent, variety, rareness, antiquity and costliness of its 
treasures, it surpasses them all. The contents are arranged 
in eight sections, as follows: Printed books, manuscripts, 
prints and drawings, Oriental antiquities, British and 
mediaeval antiquities, Greek and Roman antiquities, coins 
and medals, and zoology. In 1880, about 800,000 persons 
visited the Museum, unlike many smaller institutions of 
the kind, no price being charged for admission. 

The first thing that engaged my attention was the 
autographs and manuscripts of celebrated men, including 
Luther, Calvin, Erasmus, Archbishop Cranmer, Cardinal 
Wolsey, Sir Thomas More, John Knox, Sir Walter Ral- 
eigh, Francis Bacon, William Penn, Sir Isaac Newton, 
Michael Angelo, Albert Durer, Rubens, Rembrandt, Gal- 
4 



5© EUROPEAN NOTES. 

ileo, Descartes, Racine, Voltaire, Swift, Addison, Dryden, 
Hogarth, Pitt, Burke, Fox, Washington, Franklin, Byron, 
Wellington, Edward IV., Richard III., Henry VII., Henry 
VIII., Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Edward VI., 
Lady Jane Grey, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Mary, 
Queen of Scots; James I , Oliver Cromwell, Charles II., 
James IL, William III., Queen Anne, James Stuart, the 
Pretender ; George I., George II., George III., Catherine 
de Medici, Henry IV., Gustavus Adolphus, Louis XIV., 
Peter the Great, Charles XII., Frederick the Great, Napo- 
leon I. There were autograph letters of Jeremy Taylor, 
Gray, (the original elegy written in a country churchyard), 
Sydney Smith, Shelly, Goethe, Handel, Bulwer Lytton, 
Dickens, (said to be the last letter he wrote,) autobiogra- 
phy of Robert Burns in his own handwriting, original 
manuscript of Walter Scott's Kenilworth, letters of Sterne, 
Locke, Rousseau, Pope, Milton, Samuel Johnson, Ben 
Johnson, and the original will of William SJiakespeare in 
his own hand. There, too, we saw the prayer book of 
Lady Jane Grey, a book of prayer? copied out by Queen 
Elizabeth, the will of Maiy, Queen of Scots, in her own 
hand ; original manuscripts of Charles I., James I. and 
Frederick the Great, autograph of Edmund Spenser, list 
of troops, drawn up by the Duke of Wellington just 
before the battle of Waterloo, deed of sale of "Paradise 
Lost" with Milton's own signature. Here, too, is exhib- 
ited a volume of the Codex Alexandrinus and a Syrian 
manuscript of Genesis and Exodus from the Nitrian 
desert, Egypt, written at Amid in the year 464, and is 
believed to be the oldest dated manuscript of any portion 
of the Bible now extant. Through a door we passed into 
the King's library which contains 80,000 choice volumes, 
only a few of which we inspected, such as were very rare 
or very curious ; among them Luther's Wittenberg Bible, 
dated 1541, with his autograph in it; Queen Elizabeth's 
prayer book, the first edition of the Book of Common 
Prayer, first edition of Shakespeare's works, first edition 
of Milton's works. We passed through the sculpture 
gallery, but who could undertake to describe it? The 
Elgin room contains sculptures executed by Phidias to 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 5 1 

adorn the Parthenon at Athens. They cost three hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars. They were carved out 
in the golden age of Hellene art, four hundred and forty 
years before Christ. In the Assyrian gallery I found 
some "blue stocking" American ladies busily engaged 
copying the remains that were dug up at Nineveh, and 
other Eastern places. The Egyptian antiquities fill three 
immense halls on the ground floor and two in the upper 
story, and embrace a period from three thousand years 
before Christ. But just as I wearied looking at this mas- 
ter collection, I weary writing of it, afid change the sub- 
ject. ' 

The National Gallery, which is eagerly sought by tour- 
ists, I did not visit, as I knew I would soon find much 
better on the Continent, although this contains many 
masterpieces and is destined to be one of the finest in the 
world. As a suitable recreation after a protratted stay at 
the Museum, we drove out to Regent's Park, which con- 
tains about five hundred acres, and the celebrated Zoolog- 
ical gardens which occupy the Northern part of this Park. 
These gardens are said to be the largest and most interest- 
ing in the world. As all zoological gardens are alike, only 
some contain greater numbers and varieties than others, 
I will not attempt a description, but will just say that all 
the animals that entered Noah's ark must certainly be 
represented here. "Jumbo," the great elephant, about 
which so much has been said and written in New York, 
was there in all his glory, and little children were making 
excursions on his back. In a few weeks afterwards he was 
shipped to New York to P. T. Barnum, who there exhib- 
ited him to the delight of thousands. These were the only 
gardens where I saw real, live Hippopotami, and a sight 
of these alone well repaid us for our visit, to say nothing 
of the diversions of the Park. 

Every one who visits London wishes to see the Crystal 
Palace, and so we devoted one day to an excursion there, 
the buildings being located at Sydenham, fifteen miles 
from town. The buildings are immense, and built entirely 
of iron and glass, and, as is well known, were used for the 
great International World's Exposition. All the depart. 



52 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

ments seem to be kept up as at the time of the exhibition, 
and in addition, there are theatrical exhibitions,and musical 
concerts almost every day. But those who attended our 
Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876, will find 
nothing here particularly to interest them, and with the 
exception of the country air, and suburban sights that we 
witnessed on our way there and back, the trip was not 
specially enjoyable. 

Though London is so immense, we can go from place 
to place with but little inconvenience, as "rapid transit" 
is here carried to utmost perfection. Cabs, hackney 
coaches, omnibuses, tramways, and over and underground 
railways, and steamboats, afTord all the accommodation 
the countless thousands of the Metropolis require; under- 
ground railways, in particular, being generally used, taking 
the place of the elevated trains that go whizzing above 
you in the streets of New York. After being busily 
engaged in sight-seeing each day, what a pleasure it was 
to get back in the evening to our comfortable hotel, with 
grand old Westminster towering in front, the beautiful 
houses of Parliament on our left, and the historic Thames 
rolling in silver at our feet. But better still, with appe- 
tites sharpened by exercise, to sit down to a magnificent 
English table d'hote, and later in the evening, to retire to 
rest in a house called a "Palace" to dream (and it was not 
all a dream) that we "dwelt in marble halls." 

FAREWELL TO LONDON. 

Before bidding farewell to this great city, some general 
observations may not be out of place. First, many indeed, 
nearly all travelers have their preference among the great 
capitals of the Old World. Americans generally prefer 
Paris, and the crowds who go there, and linger in its spa- 
cious hotels, and on its magnificent Boulevards, plainly 
show this. Others like Vienna best. Indeed, for centu- 
ries, the Viennese had a saying, "There is but one imperial 
city and that is Vienna." 

"Es giebt nur ein Kaiser stadt. 
Es giebt nur ein Wein." 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 53 

Others have a preference for Berlin, with its peerless 
"Unter den Linden," marble bridges, grand palaces, and 
world renowned galleries and University. An interest, of 
course, hangs around the "Eternal City" which belongs to 
no other place, on account of its great antiquity, incom- 
parable churches, and wonderful art treasures. But tak- 
ing it for all in all, I say, give me London — great, historic, 
English London, with its four millions of people, busy 
thoroughfares, and stately temples. I like the people of 
London. The men are large, fine looking and industrious, 
and I like the ladies of London, for they are modest, ele- 
gant, and in many instances strikingly beautiful. Queen 
Victoria, the beloved, and in some instances, almost idol- 
ized, reigning sovereign, has set a noble example to her 
countrywomen, so far as all the gentle virtues of the sex 
are concerned particularly in her devotion to her worthy 
consort while he was living, and now to his memory, that 
he is no more. Living, as I did at Coburg, where she 
married, and where her husband's family now reside, and 
having enjoyed the acquaintance and hospitality of Ernest, 
Prince Albert's brother, the reigning Duke of Coburg- 
Gotha, and having seen much during the past summer of 
the Duke of Edinburgh and family, who spent several 
months at Coburg, i am prepared to say that the noble 
character of the Queen has been impressed upon all with 
whom she is allied "by ties of flesh and blood," and future 
generations will rise up and call her blessed, as they think 
upon her devotion to her family's and her country's inter- 
est. 

Much has been said about American hotels as being 
the finest in the world. They may be as good, but I have 
seen nothing superior to the Grand and Royal Hotels, 
Westminster Palace, and Charing Cross. You seek in 
vain for better beef, mutton, and poultry than you find 
on the London tables, and this is written by one who lux- 
uriated for three years on the world-renowned products of 
Kentuckygrass. 

I am sorry to say that there is a vast deal of drinking 
done in London. Bar rooms are about as plentiful there 
as in New York. Multitudes are satisfied with ale, por- 



54 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

ter and " 'alf and 'alf,'' but too many go farther and sub- 
mit to the sway of John Barleycorn. On the Continent^ 
as we shall see, the people deluge themselves with beer 
and wine, but they don't become intoxicated. On the 
contrary, the love for these light drinks seems to take 
away the thirst for distilled liquors. In London I saw 
what I have seen no where else in the world — men and 
women (of the lower classes, of course,) crowding into the 
drinking saloons together and carousing in view of persons 
passing along the streets. 

The animals of London, horses, cows, and dogs, are 
simply wonderful. One English dray horse "would make 
as much" and draw as much as four American horses. I 
have seen the big horses of the West, but I have never 
seen anything that at all compared to these equine ele- 
phants of London. And dogs, ah ! I see now where 
Cowper got his idea of 

"Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, 
And curs of low degree." 

The English greyhounds, beagles, setters, bulldogs, and 
mastiffs are celebrated the world over. But it is to the 
English cow that I would call special attention. Every- 
body that knows me knows that 1 love milk. It is in an 
especial sense "the beverage that refreshes but not inebri- 
ates.'' One reason why I love Burns so well is, because 
he has immortalized the cow in his Cotter's Saturday 
Night. 

"The milk his only hawkee does afford." 

Well, then, imagine the delight with which I gazed on 
these thoroughbred, red, English Durhams, and mouse- 
colored, English Jerseys. The Bible tells us that "a cup 
of cold water shall not be without its reward." How 
many cups of milk have been given me by kind friends 
during my travels in Georgia, and how many blessings 
have I invoked on their heads for it ! A blessing now on 
London, and the good hotel keepers, and the good cows 
that there ministered to my happiness! 

London is full of amusements. And while I did not go 
in, it was a pleasure to pass by Drury Lane, Covent Garden, 



LIGHTS AND SIGHTS OF LONDON. 55 

Haymarket, the Prince of Wales Theatre, etc., that are 
associated with the great names of McCready, Garrick 
and our own Booths and Forrest. Wagner was there with 
his opera, and soon after he played near me at Beyreut, 
but I did not see him. Kings, princes, potentates, all 
thronged to see his wonderful pieces performed. I say 
performed, for it is a well known fact that Wagner made 
the musical subordinate to the dramatic in his perform- 
ances. But these products of his genius will no more be 
sung and played in his presence. Full of years and 
honors, he died during the past few days. Let us hope 
that he who was such a master of the secret springs and 
symphonies of the human heart, is now sweeping chords 
that give forth more than even his earthly melody in 
another and brighter world among " the choirs of the 
angels." 

In the suburbs of London, I passed over the very 
ground where the notorious Dick Turpin used to live 
and perpetrated those highway robberies that have 
created so thrilling an interest, in their recital, in the 
breasts of wayward young readers. And what were all 
his ill gotten gains worth ? 

" Forty pounds when he did die 
He left Jack Ketch for a legacy." 

In London the work of feeing begins in earnest. You 
must pay a man a fee for everything. There is no getting 
round it. And a man is foolish who thinks he can cheek 
his way through without these annoying expenditures. 
He will lose far more by the operation than these fees 
amount to. I was amused at my brother. He filled his 
pockets with pennies, and as he walked along the streets 
I could hear him say, " Mr., will you tell me what build- 
ing that is?" at the same time dropping a couple of 
pennies into the man's hand. A few steps further, " Is 
that Buckingham Palace?" he asked of the guard, jingle 
went the pennies again, and so on. But this feeing busi- 
ness soon becomes almost intolerable. You can generally 
tell what it costs to get into a hotel, museum, or picture 
gallery, for example, but there is no telling what it costs *' 
to get out. 



$6 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

And now, farewell to the " Lights of London town," 
for the present. As we think of going into strange lands, 
and among peoples of unknown tongues, we feel lonely 
and almost homesick. But go I must, and now wend my 
way to Victoria Station of the London, Chatham & 
Dover Railroad. 



CHAPTER III. 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 

FROM LONDON TO COLOGNE. 

The ride from London to Cologne was anything but 
pleasant, though we passed many interesting towns and 
cities, and some picturesque scenery on the route. We 
went by the London, Chatham & Dover railway. The 
first important place we reached was Rochester, with a 
population of 19.000. The view from the bridge, of its 
fine old Norman castle, with the river laving the base of 
the tower, is charming. Next we came to the great naval 
station of Chatham, which, though a mere hamlet until 
the dockyard was established there, now has a population 
of 45,000. Rolling along we soon came to Canterbury, 
the seat of the primacy of England, with a population of 
21,000. The city contains many important buildings, the 
chief of which is the renowned cathedral, built in the form 
of a double cross, having two transepts, with two steeples 
at the west end, the outer walls of which are richly em- 
bellished with statues of sovereigns and archbishops. I 
regretted exceedingly that I could not go in and inspect 
the edifice, as it contains the tombs of many kings, and 
princes, martyrs, and bishops ; among them, that of 
Thomas a'Becket. It is said that the pavement in front 
of Becket's chapel is worn away by the knees of the count- 
less thousands of pilgrims who, in ages gone by, sought 
to obtain the martyr's intercession for the forgiveness of 
their sins, just as St. Peter's bronze toe has been kissed 
off in St. Peter's at Rome. Dover was soon reached, a 



58 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

town of 30,000, chiefly remarkable for its old castle, and 
as the principal port of England for vessels plying to and 
from the French coast. There we had a fine view of the 
"white clifts of Albion," among them "Shakespeare's cliff/' 
so named from the celebrated speech of Edgar in King 
Lear. The old castle here covers an area of about thirty 
acres, and has in its old walls workmanship of the succes- 
sive nations that overran and conquered the country, Ro- 
man, Saxon, and Norman. Here is kept " Queen Eliza- 
beth's pocket pistol," a piece of Dutch ordnance twenty- 
four feet long. It at one time bore the lines : 

" Polish me bright and keep me clean, 
I'll send a ball to Calais green." 

The English Channel is here twenty-one miles broad, 
and we crossed it in one hour and twenty minutes, for a 
wonder none of us being seasick during the passage. It 
is usually the worst part of the sea for tourists, many 
crossing the ocean without nausea to be wretchedly af- 
flicted in one of the smajl boats on this boisterous " chop 
sea." At Calais our real trouble began, for there we were 
met by noisy Frenchmen not one of whom could speak a 
word of English. Is it not strange that there, in a little 
over an hour from England, with innumerable boats cross- 
ing and recrossing all the while, there should be less 
knowledge of English than at any other place we visited 
on the Continent? The conductor on the train that we 
boarded was a rough, unaccommodating fellovv whom we 
could not understand, and who could not understand us. 
I bought tickets in London direct to Cologne, and was 
assured there would be no change of cars after leaving 
Calais, but it seems to me we had to change that day no 
less than six times. Going from one car to another at one 
of the stations, I found an old gentleman and his wife 
seated in the coupe. "Do you speak English?" said L 
"Yes," said he, "the trouble is, I can't speak anything 
else." " Good," said I, " I am glad to see you, for we have 
had a hard time with these babbling (I might have said 
Babeling) Frenchmen." "Well," said he, "they have 
given me and my wife the very d — 1." It was interesting, 



FROM LONDON TO COLOGNE. 59 

though, to travel through the Netherlands, and a feeling 
of relief came over me as the beautiful city of Brussels 
appeared. I saw from the station, where there was a brief 
delay, that this famous place, with its stately houses, mag- 
nificent streets, and enchanting parks, deserved all the 
praise that had been bestowed upon it ; but as we visited 
it many months afterwards, I will reserve a more special 
notice till another time. We caught a bare glimpse of the 
location of the battle of Waterloo, twelve miles distant. 
Many small manufacturing towns were passed before we 
came to Liege, a town with 120,000 inhabitants. Just be- 
yond Liege we found the Meuse spanned by a magnificent 
bridge. A little further we came to Vervier, with 40,000 
inhabitants, where 350,000 pieces of cloth, worth seven- 
teen million dollars, are manufactured annually. On an 
eminence, near Station Dolhaim, stands the ancient castle 
of Limburg, the sole remnant of the once flourishing cap- 
ital of the Duchy of that name, destroyed by Louis XIV. 
The castle was the family seat of the powerful ducal 
family of Limburg, to which the emperors, Henry VIL, 
Charles IV., and Sigismond, belonged. The next impor- 
tant place we reached was Aix La Chapelie, but if we had 
not been looking out for it, we should not have known it^ 
for the conductor called out " Aachan," the German name 
by which it is known. This ancient city, with 80,000 in- 
habitants, was the favorite residence of the great Charle- 
magne, who died here in 814. This city has frequently 
been the scene of imperial diets, ecclesiastical convoca- 
tions, congresses and treaties. One could spend a week 
here to great profit, but we were compelled to go on. At 
Aix La Chapelie we met with better cars, and more 
accommodating conductors, and more English speaking 
people, if we can so dignify those whose Teutonic 
mouths attempt to grind out a few English sentences. 
But soon night began to set in and the rain to fall, and 
lolling upon our luxuriantly-cushioned seats, after the 
excitement of the day, we might have fallen into a for- 
getful repose, but soon a world of lights twinkled before 
our vision, a magnificent river was crossed, and a splendid 



6o EUROPEAN NOTES. 

city was sleeping before us. That river was the Rhine, 
and that city, 

SWEET SCENTED COLOGNE. 

Sweet scented Cologne ! there you find it — in bottles, not 
in the narrow streets, quaint, old houses, or even gor- 
geous palaces of that picturesque place. Cologne is called 
the city of "seventy distinct smells," and really, it is no mis- 
nomer. Go along one street and you will imagine that all 
the gas pipes have exploded ; turn into another, and you 
will think you are not far from the slaughter house ; go 
into another, and you are transported back to a Louis- 
ville soap factory ; take another direction, and you are 
stifled by the odors of a Baltimore guano warehouse ; 
take another course, and the "vapors of a dungeon" salute 
you ; yet another, and the breezes are wafted to you from 
a Cincinnati hog pen ; yet one more, and you think you 
have reached some huge nest of unclean birds. To sum 
it all up, as Shakespeare would say, "The place is rank 
and smells to heaven," and yet this place is called Cologne, 
a ''Incus a non hicendo"' certainly. I do not wonder 
that the most celebrated perfumery in the world is made 
here. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention, 
and if there is a place in the world whose bad odors 
should be counteracted by sweet smells, that place is Co- 
logne. The Cologne water made here has justly a world- 
wide celebrity. It is for sale in all the shops, and we laid 
in a good supply. Through all these smells we passed to 
a most elegant hotel, the hotel Disch, where comfortable 
rooms, clean beds (with feather beds to cover with, the 
first we had seen but not the last), and an excellent hot 
supper awaited us. Next day we did the city thor- 
oughly, visiting all the beautiful shops, some of the parks 
and gardens, the magnificent museum and picture gallery, 
and above all the stately, grand, incomparable cathedral. 
This cathedral, the most magnificent Gothic edifice in the 
world, situated on the banks of the Rhine, justly excites 
the admiration of every beholder. We viewed it exter- 
nally and internally to our entire satisfaction, and as- 
cended to the top of the tower whence a splendid view is 




COLOGNK CATHKDUAL. 



FROM LONDON TO COLOGNE. 6l 

obtained. The total length of the building is 442 feet ; 
breadth, 201 feet; height of the roof, 201 feet ; height of 
the central tower, 375 feet. The building was begun over 
five hundred years ago, and has cost an amazing amount 
of money. Between the years 1840 and 1876 three mill- 
ion five hundred thousand dollars have been expended. 
It is a perfect marvel of beauty, and a whole day cannot 
be better spent than in examining the interesting details, 
as well as the treasures of art that everywhere adorn it. 
What one most admires as he gazes upon that superb pile, 
one of the most beautiful churches in the world, is the 
genius of the man who designed it. Most people have 
very crude ideas on the subject of architecture. They 
think that it takes a preacher to preach a sermon ; a 
lawyer to plead a case ; a physician to heal a patient ; a 
farmer to make a crop, but anybody can design a house. 
There could not possibly be a greater mistake, as the poor 
results of amateur architectural attempts always show. 
Architecture is an art, yea, a science, which few men un- 
derstand. Now, what Robert Hall was as a preacher, or 
Daniel Webster as a lawyer, the designer of the Cologne 
cathedral was as an architect. A legend is told of the way 
in which he accomplished his work. Conrad of Hoch- 
steden, archbishop of Cologne, who conceived the idea of 
building the finest church in Christendom, and had bound- 
less wealth at his disposal, selected a celebrated architect 
of Cologne, and gave him a year to draw his plans in. 
The architect felt highly complimented, and devoted all 
his time, and his best thoughts to the work. At last, he 
found all his best efforts fall far short of the subject ; 
and wandered into the Seven Mountains like a madman. 
Only three days were left in which to complete his plans. 
While out in the forest a violent storm arose, accompa- 
nied with thunder and lightning. A stranger appeared 
and gave him an intoxicating beverage to drink, which in- 
flamed his zeal, and brightened his wits. He then showed 
him the plan for the cathedral, which he said should be 
his on condition that he would sell himself to him and 
sign the contract with his blood. He accepted, and the 
stranger revealing himself as the devil, left him. He 



62 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

bore the plan to the archbishop, and it was accepted, and 
it is that of the present grand structure. But the archi- 
tect became gloomy and despondent. Prayers and pen- 
ance were freely offered to secure pardon, which was, at 
last, granted him, but he died before completing the build- 
ing, and the evil influences of the devil have often mani- 
'fested themselves since in the dissensions of the people. 
And here I will say that many of the figures sculptuied 
on the walls and " flying buttresses,'' look like pictures 
I have seen of "old Nick.'' 

While Cologne is not a sweet smelling place, it is cer- 
tainly beautiful and full of strange interest to tourists who 
crowd its magnificent hotels, and seem never to weary of 
traversing its narrow streets, gazing into its shop windows, 
and thronging its chief places of recreation and amuse- 
ment. A favorite place of resort is the church of St. Ur- 
sula, which contains a monument, erected in 1658 to St. 
Ursula, an English princess, who, according to the legend, 
when on her return from a pilgrimage to Rome, was bar- 
barously murdered at Cologne with her eleven thousand 
virgin attendants. The figure of the princess is in alabas- 
ter with a dove at her feet, and the bones of the virgin 
martyrs are preserved in cases, placed round the church. 

On the north side of the New Market, two horses' 
heads, carved in stone, may be seen, on a conspicuous 
house, which are said to commemorate an incident related 
of Ri' hmodis, wife of the Knight of Mengis. When the 
plague visited Cologne in 1357, she was attacked by the 
malady, and falling into a death-like swoon, was buried in 
the church of the Apostles nearby. Awakened from her 
trance by a thievish grave-digger in his attempts to steal 
her ring, she returned to the house of her husband, who 
imagining that he had beheld an apparition, declared he 
would sooner believe that his horses could ascend to the 
loft of his house. Scarcely had he uttered these words 
before his horses did ascend, and thrust their heads out of 
the window of the upper story. The lady recovered, and 
enjoyed many years of happiness afterwards, and the 
horses' heads have been kept there ever since in memory 
of the strange circumstance. So runs the legend, and all 



FROM LONDON TO COLOGNE. 6^ 

who wish to believe it may do so, hut " seeing (the horses' 
heads) is'' not •' beHeving," so far as this writer is con- 
cerned. 

THE RHINE. 

I am going to attempt now what I have never done 
before, and that is, to describe a river on paper, and that 
the most celebrated river in the world. When I was a 
school-boy, engaged in the study of geography, the ques- 
tion was asked me by my teachers in regard to the various 
rivers laid down on the map, until it became like an old 
song, " Where does such a river rise, in what direction 
does it run, and where does it enripty?" This same old 
question I will answer now in regard to the Rhine by way 
of refreshing the minds_ of my readers. The Rhine rises 
in the Swiss canton of Grisons, emanating from two small 
lakes in the Lepantine Alps, flows a circuitous course of 
nearly eight hundred miles in a general westerly and 
northern direction, and empties by a delta of six mouths 
into the North Sea. It is divided into the upper, middle 
and lower Rhine ; the first embracing that part which runs 
along the western boundary of Switzerland ; the second 
that which lies between Basle and Cologne, and the third 
that which lies between Cologne and the sea. I have had 
several glimpses of the upper portion, particularly at Con- 
stance and Basle, the scenery along which is stupendous 
and grand beyond description, the fault, so far as the effect 
on the river is concerned, being that there is too much 
grand mountain scenery for the insignificant stream there 
to show-off to advantage Some glimpses, too, I have 
caught of the lower portion where the difficulty presents 
itself of too much river for the scenery, the country being 
low, flat, and comparatively uninviting. The middle por- 
tion, at least, that portion which lies between Cologne 
and Mayence, where the river flows in all its glory, and 
where the surrounding scenery vies with the river in en- 
rapturing beauty and grandeur, I had the pleasure of 
twice viewing to my heart's content, both going to and 
coming from my post of duty at Sonneberg. My friend, 
Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, of Louisville, told me, and he has 



64 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

been to Europe a dozen times, that the most interesting 
portion lay between Bonn and Coblenz. I concluded, 
however, to take in more of it, and boarded a steamer at 
Cologne whose destination was Mayence, one hundred 
and eighty miles distant. And here I will remark that 
one hundred steamers ply regularly between these places, 
and during the season are crowded with tourists from all 
parts of the world, particularly from England and Amer- 
ica, eager to catch glimpses of the thrilling and enchanting 
scenery strewn all along its banks. 

The vessel that we boarded was the "Deutscher Kaiser,'^ 
(German Emperor,) and was the finest of the line. Be- 
sides my own family and party, 1 had about a hundred 
other gay, happy companions, nearly every one with a field 
glass, the motto of all being, who could "best see and best 
agree.'' The vessel was supplied with an elegant cuisine, 
attentive waiters, and luxurious rooms. But we had but 
little use for rooms, for the day was fine and, of course, we 
all remained on deck through the whole of the voyage. 
When about a mile from Cologne, I turned to take a parting 
look at the city. What a scene fell upon my vision ! It 
was as if some mighty, some celestial artist had painted it 
"life size" upon the sky, and a fiood of light from the 
sun on that July morning falling upon its stately build- 
ings, majestic bridges, and lofty spires, notably that 
of the gorgeous cathedral, made it appear, indeed like our 
conception of "Jerusalem, the golden." It was no longer 
the city of "seventy distinct smells," but of a thousand be- 
witching beauties. I turned quickly around, for other 
things were to be seen now, and I noticed first the highly 
cultivated German farms on either side. Every foot of 
ground Is utilized, and the whole looks like a great, regu- 
larly laid off, carefully cultivated garden. Here the Teu- 
ton has worked for long centuries and reaped the rewards 
of his labors. On these sunny banks he has laid him down 
to rest in luxurious ease. In many of the beer saloons in 
Germany may be found this legend framed and hanging 
on the wall : 

Es wohnten die alten Deutschen 

Au beiden ufern des Rheins 

Sie lagen auf barenhauten 








^1 



mMi^£ 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 65 

Und trauken immer noch eins, 
Und das war ihre einsige tugend 
Und daren hatten Sie recht 
Den Iceiner starb in die ingend 
Und der bis ihns alter gizecht. 

The translation of this is : "It is the custom of the old 
Germans to He down on bear skins, on both banks of the 
Rhine, and ever drink one or more glasses (of lager beer). 
In that they are very sensible, and therein they are right, 
for he who drinks till he is old will never die when he is 
young.'' 

Here, too, on these banks, I thought, how often have 
contending armies met in deadly struggle ! The hosts of 
Julius Csesar and other Roman leaders have struggled 
here with the "barbarians of the North" for the mastery 
of empire, until this river has been swollen with their blood. 
The legions of France, particularly under the great Napo- 
leon, have crossed and recrossed this stream, with emotions 
varied by the successes or reverses they had experienced 
while contending with the warlike sons of the Fatherland. 
Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Wellington, and a thou- 
sand other names, illustrious in historj^ have encamped 
upon these very banks and gazed upon these very waters. 
And yet the stream flows on as if nothing strange or start- 
ling had happened, itself the dividing line of empire, and 
the Rubicon of nations. Indulging these feelings the 
time passed rapidly, and in the course of two hours we 
found ourselves nearing the city of Bonn, where the real 
beauties of the Rhine begin to present themselves. Bonn, 
the seat of a great university, is on the west bank, twenty- 
five miles from Cologne. The University buildings in the 
midst of a grove; handsome residences on the hills above 
the river; the grounds of the "aete zoll," and the lofty 
tower of the monastery give the town a very attractive 
appearance, as seen from the steamer. It is a favorite res- 
idence for English and other visitors, and many joined us 
at this point. We caught a glimpse of the Roman Cas- 
trum, or Camp, at the north end of the town, which gave 
the name to the place founded by Drusus. They called it 
Castra Bonnensia, or Bonna, hence Bonn. After leaving 
Bonn we entered, as I have already intimated, on the 
5 



66 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

most famous and picturesque part of the river. Passing the 
villages of Obercassel, Plittersdorf, etc., we beheld on the 
right the ruined castle of Godesberg. We are already in 
sight of the Seven Mountains, on each of which are located 
castles of greater or less note, and all associated with ex- 
citing legends. Konigswinter is the handsome little town 
where visitors get off to visit the Mountains. Chief 
among them is the Drachenfels, (or Dragon's rock,) the 
slopes of which are covered with vineyards, the wine from 
which is called Drachenblut, or dragon's blood. The half 
ruined castle so distinctly visible from the river, was oc- 
cupied by the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus, during 
the Thirty Years' War, but was besieged and taken from 
them by Duke Ferdinand of Bavaria, who completed its 
destruction. The cavern among the vineyards, about 
midway between the river and the castle, and plainly visible 
from the steamer, is said to have once housed the dragon 
slain by Siegfried, who, having bathed himself in its blood, 
became invulnerable. As I gazed upon that lofty peak, 
crowned with that venerable and historic pile, and upon 
the surrounding enchanting scenery, I thought of the 
many who, from all parts of the world, had enjoyed the 
same pleasure. Prominent among these was Lord Byron, 
the world's great but eccentric genius, who, charmed by 
its beauties, stopped to pour forth on it one of his sweet- 
est effusions : 

"The castled crag of Drachenfels 
Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine, 
Whose breast of waters broadly swells 
Between the banks which bear the vine ; 
And hills all rich with blossomed trees, 
And fields which promise corn and wine, 
And scattered cities crowning these, 
Whose far white walls along them shine, 
Have strewed a scene which I should see 
With double joy, wert thou with me." 

Our noble vessel', with its merry and happy throng, 
steamed on " between the banks that bear the vine." The 
valleys of the Rhine and its tributaries constitute the 
peculiar home of grape culture. Vineyards are every- 
where to be seen, clothing the bottom lands, clambering 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 67 

up the mountain sides, and terraced upon stony preci- 
pices. It is needless to remark that the finest wines in 
the world are here produced, consumed in inordinate 
quantities by the population, and shipped to all parts of 
the world. No dinner, no breakfast is complete without 
wines, and they are so cheap as to come within the reach 
of all. Some of the brands have become so famous, that 
the prices are very high even here where they are made, 
but connoisseurs can procure as good often at one-tenth of 
the cost. We gazed upon the magnificent vineyards of 
Rudesheim and Johannisberg higher up the river, and 
caught a glimpse of some of the rich fields of the valley 
of the Ahr, which river flows into the Rhine 

One thing that interested me, was the different beauti- 
ful colors of the beverage as here presented. "Look -not 
upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in 
the cup." We saw here what that means, and the beauti- 
ful and attractive color is produced by letting the juice 
remain with the hulls a long time befqre it is drawn off.- 
The white wines are made by drawing off the juice as 
soon as the grapes are pressed, and before fermentation 
sets in. The finest of these are made on the Moselle^ 
another tributary of the Rhine, and I noticed that the 
Germans generally prefer these to the finest clarets, or 
red wines. Vines have been grown, and wines made here 
for so many centuries that it is not remarkable that we 
of the New World can not successfully compete with 
this industry. The time will come, however, when Cali- 
fornia wines will be equally as celebrated. Indeed, it is 
said to be a fact, that wines are largely shipped now from 
the United States to Germany and France, and doctored, 
or mixed with the rich products of these countries, and 
re-shipped to the United States at enormous profits Our 
consuls at Bordeaux, and other places where wine forms 
the chief article of export, have written the subject up, 
giving all the information they could get, and the best 
results are anticipated here from the truth thus given. 

I will not detain the reader by describing beautiful vil- 
lages built to the water's edge, with their quaint houses, 
handsome churches and splendid residences; nor by dwell- 



68 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

ing upon lofty peaks that are crowned by castle ruins, each 
one of which has an intensely interesting history, but will 
stop with the boat to view the town of Neuwied, which 
is inhabited by a celebrated colony of Moravian Brethren. 
There they are busy at work at their trades, chiefly stove 
and glove making, attired in their singular costumes, and 
anxious to exhibit the specimens of their handicraft to all 
comers. These Moravians, as is well known, are the so- 
ealled Quakers of Germany, and trace their origin to the 
followers of John Huss, who were expelled by persecution 
from Bohemia and Moravia, in the beginning of the eigh- 
teenth century. A small company, consisting of only ten 
persons, received permission from Count Zinzendorf to 
settle on his estate of Bertholsdorf in Saxony. To this 
settlement they gave the name Herrnhut, whence they 
are commonly known in Germany as Herrnhuters. The 
colony has greatly increased by the addition of Bohemian 
refugees and other Christians, who were attracted by the 
faith and piety of the members, Count Zinzendorf joined 
the little band, devoted his whole estate to the propaga- 
tion of Christianity, and entered the work of the ministry. 
The colony at this place came from Saxony, and have 
greatly increased in numbers and influence. The mem- 
bers of the Society are scattered all over Europe and 
America, but they prefer to live in colonies, and in these 
they carry out some strange customs. The chief of these 
is the division into separate detachments, of children, 
youths, maidens, unmarried brethren, unmarried sisters, 
widowers, and widows, each having a separate leader or 
pastor. Unmarried brethren, unmarried sisters, widowers, 
and widows reside in separate houses ; married couples in 
houses of their own. 

The Moravians are great missionaries. The prosperity 
of their Societies has been largely due to their missionary 
enterprises. Their first mission was planted on the Island 
of St. Thomas, West Indies, in 1732, the missionaries who 
went there expressing their willingness to become slaves, 
if necessary, to carry out their ends. The mission to 
' Greenland, as is well known, has been eminently success- 
: ful, and has made that barren region a Christian country; 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 69 

They heeded the cry, "from Greenland's icy mountains," 
and claim there, and at their other stations, one hundred 
thousand converts from heathenism. Their religious servi- 
ces, like those of the Quakers in this country, are very simple 
and consist of daily meetings for prayer and praise, in- 
strumental music being admitted, and they also practice 
the washing of feet on communion days. It is a well 
known fact that the Moravians are not very scrupulous as 
to the methods of raising money for the furtherance of 
their mission works. What would you think of the Bap- 
tist denomination, for example, if it should establish and 
run an immense beer brewery, the proceeds of which 
should go to the support of our Home and Foreign Mis- 
sions? Yet, the Moravians have one, operated on a most 
gigantic scale, with apartments for the sale of beer at re- 
tail, and where, it may be supposed, the brethren and sis- 
ters (at separate tables, of course) meet and regale them- 
selves with the delicious beverage. It must be said in 
their defence, however, that beer drinking in Germany is 
regarded as an innocent, and in the absence of wholesome 
water, a necessary custom. 

At different landings on the river the boat would stop 
when a few would get off, and a great many more would 
get on board — tourists who had been stopping at these 
points for the purposes of rest and exploration, and now 
anxious to go further and witness the still grander beau- 
ties of this enchanting region. 

Meals are served on deck a la carte, and in the saloon 
an elaborate table d' hote is provided at the dinner hour, 
for those whose appetites prove superior to the passion 
for seeing. 

We finish dinner in time to come out and gaze upon 
the Roland Arch, the last relic of the castle of Rolandseck, 
perched upon a huge rock three hundred and fifty feet 
above, and concerning which there is a deeply interesting 
legend. To sum it up : the brave knight, Roland, searching 
for adventure, found himself the guest of Count Heirbert, 
lord of the Seven Mountains, at his castle. His beautiful 
daughter, Hildegunde, welcomed the stranger with bread, 
wine and fish. The knight fell in love with her, and they 



^0 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

were soon engaged. He soon left her, being summoned 
by Charlemagne to the Crusades. The girl heard he was 
dead, betook herself " to a nunnery," and was lost to him. 
He returned, being only wounded instead of dead, but not 
to find his dear Hildegunde. So, in despair, he built this 
castle in sight of the nunnery, and there lived in solitude, 
catching a glimpse occasionally of- the fair form of the nun 
as she went to and from her devotions in the little chapel. 
At last he missed her, and soon the funeral knell and pro- 
cession told him but too plainly that she was lost to him 
now forever. From that moment he never spoke again, 
but died of a broken heart, his body being found lifeless, 
his "glassy eye" turned toward the little chapel. An- 
other case of " Villikens and his Dinah," truly, only there 
was no " cold p'ison " in this instance. Oh, these legends! 
why is it that mountainous districts are ever rite with 
them? Here, in our own North Georgia, we have the 
legends of Toccoa, Tallulah and Nacoochee. Whence did 
they originate? 

" Would you ask me, whence these legends ? 
Whence these legends and traditions ? 
I would answer, I would tell you," 

I don't know. 

One could write volumes on the Rhine, but I will con- 
clude my notes on the subject by noticing the chief objects 
between Coblentz and Mayence. 

Coblentz ! Who has not heard of that place, and at its 
mention, what memories rise of the Franco-Prussian war? 
For this was the most important base of operations the 
Germans had during that memorable period. The fortress 
that here " frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine," is 
the most commanding, the most extensive, and the most 
impregnable in Germany. Indeed, this fortress of Ehren- 
breitstein is sometimes called the Gibraltar of the Rhine. 
It is situated on a rock about four hundred feet above the 
Rhine, and nearly six hundred feet above the sea. It is 
entirely inaccessible on three sides. The massive fortifi- 
cations are considered a marvel of military engineering. 
The view from here is splendid, embracing the fertile val- 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. /I 

ley of the Rhine, the numerous volcanic peaks of Maifeld 
and Eifel, a semi-circle of picturesque hills, two of them 
crowned with the castles of Stolzenfels and Lahneck; the 
plateau where 10,000 French prisoners were confined 
during the war of 1870, and the cemetery where multitudes 
of them were buried. On the right stands the triangular 
town of Coblentz. Few towns on the river can vie with 
it in beauty of situation. It stands at the junction of 
two of the most picturesque rivers in Europe, and is the 
central point of the finest scenery on the Rhine. Beyond 
the Moselle bridge stands the monument of the French 
general, Marceau, who fell at Altenkirchen (old churches) 
in 1796. He was first buried a little distance off, and 
had a simple, pyramidal stone above his grave. Byron 
visited the spot before his body was removed, and wrote 
his familiar lines : 

" By Coblentz on a gentle rise of ground, 

There is a small and simple pyramid, 
Crowning the summit of the verdant mound ; 

Beneath its base are hero's ashes hid, 
Our enemy, but let not that forbid 

Honor to Marceau," etc. 

Leaving Coblentz, all on board are ecstatic with the 
grand and enchanting scenery. Peak rises upon peak, 
crowned with castle upon castle, around which hangs 
legend upon legend. The ladies were much interested in 
the legend of Sterrenberg and Liebenstein, called the 
Brothers, which, in substance, is the following : Two 
brothers fell in love with their foster sister, the beautiful 
Hildegarde. One went to the wars, generously yielding 
the maiden to the other. The father, who lived at 
Liebenstein, built Sterrenberg for the happy pair, but 
died before their marriage. The brother, grown tired of 
his love, went to the wars also. Hildegarde retired to a con- 
vent. The first brother returns married, and when he finds 
how the other has treated the foster sister, he challenges 
him to mortal combat. Hildegarde rushes between them, 
and saves their lives. The brothers become friends, and 
live together at Liebenstein, the wife of the first having 
proved faithless and deserted him, while poor Hildegarde 



72 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

returns to the convent. And what does all this amount 
to ? I do wish they would get up a little variety in their 
legends. Two more castles bear the suggestive names of 
Cat and Mouse, the Mouse being commanded by the Cat. 
After leaving the beautiful village of St, Goar, we come 
to the imposing rocks of the Lurlei, four hundred and 
fifty feet above the Rhine, which Mark Twain and others 
have immortalized, after poets and painters had immor- 
talized themselves by treating of them. Heine's beauti- 
ful ballad is still very popular. According to Marner, a 
poet of the thirteenth century, the Nieblungen treasure 
is hidden beneath the rocks of Lurlei. To the traveler 
descending the river, the edge of the rocks presents the 
appearance of a human profile, supposed toi^emble that 
of Napoleon I. Some of my readers mav^ot have heard 
of the Lorelei, and so I give the substance of it here. 
There was a water nymph named Lore, who resided at 
Ley, a rock on the Rhine, and so she was called Loreley. 
To all the sailors on the river she appeared on the top of 
this rock as a most lovely and beautiful figure. Her long 
hair waved over her shoulders, and who ever saw her 
once, never forgot the glance of her eyes. She gave 
happiness to all the good, and misery to all the bad of 
the country. Many who rowed to the foot of the rock 
and endeavored to mock her power, were seized by the 
raging waves, and drawn into the abyss. The same fate 
awaited a young man who fell in love with her, lost his 
senses, and was drawn into the abyss. The father of the 
young man came and inquired of the Lurlei where his son 
was? She replied : 

" There below in the wild waves' womb. 
In the water clear, you'll find his tomb. 
Thither my darling love I led, 
Way down in crystal depths to wed." 

So saying, she "leaped in,'' and has never been seen 
since, but she is heard every day, her sweet voice coming 
up from the crystal castle, reminding all of the fate of 
the poor young man. Since that event the rock yields a 
beautiful echo, which is admired and praised as the gift 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 73 

of the fairy. But that voice is the echo, and that echo 
was there before the fooHsh story originated. 

But we are Hearing a place of great interest now, a 
place that I was really more anxious to see than any other 
on the river, and that was "Bingen, fair Bingen on the 
Rhine.'' What a power there is in song ! Some one has 
said: "Let me write a nation's ballads and I care not who 
makes its laws." That familiar poem, "Bingen," has 
touched many a tender chord in the hearts of the people 
of this country, and awakened more interest than "acts of 
assemblies.'' Just before getting to the town, we passed 
the Mouse tower, situated in the middle of the river, and 
which is said to derive its name from the legend of the 
cruel Archbishop of Mayence, who having caused poor 
people whom he compared to n'ice, to be burned alive 
during a famine, he was immediately attacked by mice, 
which tormented him day and night. He then took ref- 
uge on this little island, but he was followed by the mice, 
and soon devoured alive. Good for him ! I should like 
to have a trained army of these avengers to turn loose on 
such fellows as Dukes, and other revolting criminals of 
the times. And now we are at Bingen, and the tcene I 
can never forget. The beautiful town of six thousand 
souls is on our right hand, situated on a series of "vine 
clad hills,'' that slope down to the water's edge. It was 
about five o'clock in the afternoon, and a quiet restfulness 
stole over us, "as if the balmy evening time softened our 
spirits." On looking up I discerned an object that gave a 
finishing touch to the picture. It was the "pale moon" 
that "seemed to shine" for our especial benefit, just that 
we might realize in all its fullness and vividness the pic- 
ture drawn in the incomparable lines of "Bingen on the 
Rhine." There was one other object that gave interest to 
the scenery. As the boat stood there discharging and re- 
ceiving freight, I cast my eyes on the shore, and saw 
"another, not a sister," who, judging by her fair form, and 
the "merriment that sparkled in her eye," might have 
been a worthy descendant of the lovely girl that had won 
upon the heart of that "soldier of the legion." I got ofT 
here for a few minutes, just to say that I did so. After 



74 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

leaving Bingen, the river expands, and we enter the cele. 
brated Rheingau, which was once in all probability a lake. 
Along through this region the finest wines in the world 
are made. Rudesheimer and Schloss Johannisberg ! Ah! 
these are the wines, doubtless, that Mr. Vanderbilt had on 
his tables at that recent grand display in New York, which 
may be called at once the climax of pride and the height 
of folly. Night now sets in and we are fatigued. Instead 
of straining our vision in catching night glimpses of the 
remaining scenery, we loll upon our easy chairs, muse over 
the experiences of the day, and speculate on what awaits 
us. We move along "chewing the cud of sweet and bit- 
ter fancies'' when we are suddenly roused from our rev- 
ery by along, ear-piercing blast of the whistle. It is the 
signal for disembarkation at Mayence. 

MAYENCE. 
Mayence, with about 50,000 inhabitants, is beautifully 
situated on the left bank of the Rhine, as already stated, 
one hundred and eighty miles from Cologne, and is the 
point at which tourists generally leave the Rhine, whether 
their destination be Berlin, Vienna, Paris or Italy. We 
landed on a broad, long and attractive quay, which affords 
the principal drive and promenade for the citizens. The 
elegant hotels, erected for the special accommodation of 
the thousands of visitors who throng this region during 
the summer, are located on this quay, fronting on the 
Rhine. They are all so good that it is difficult which one 
to select, but as we had a card of introduction from the 
proprietor of Hotel Dirch, Cologne, to the proprietor of 
the "Rheinischer Hof," we proceeded at once to this spa- 
cious house, where a cordial reception awaited us. These 
hotels all have their names inscribed in large, showy let- 
ters in three languages. Our hotel, for example, had on 
one side, "Hotel du Rhine ;" on the other "Rhine Hotel," 
and in the middle, "Rheinischer Hof." The word Hof, 
which means a court, is generally used for the fine hotels ; 
for the reason, I suppose, that it smacks of royalty, and 
for the further reason, that each one has a beautiful court 
in the centre of the building, often ornamented with the 
rarest and most inviting flowers. 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 75 

As we had been to supper, and it was now ten o'clock 
at night, we proceeded at once to our rooms, and as they 
are a fair specimen of what we met with at all the first 
class German hotels I will describe them. They are usu- 
ally frescoed on the ceiling, with a border with some 
pretty design in the centre, while the walls are papered. 
The floors are uncarpeted, or if carpeted at all, with a 
piece covering only about two-thirds of the floor. In 
one corner stands a stove, made of porcelain, pure white, 
about eight feet tall, three feet in dia.neter, and which looks 
very much like a tombstone. The furniture consists of a 
bureau, table, chairs, an elegant sofa, and two single beds. 
Germans never "sleep together,'' and the single beds are 
so small, and the covering so narrow, that it is difficult to 
"turn over" without exposing to the night air some part 
of your person. As I lay down I thought of the text in 
the Bible which says: "My bed is so short that I cannot 
stretch in)'self in it, and the covering so narrow that I 
can not wrap myself in it," or words to that effect. On 
top there is a feather bed, with which you are to cover 
yourself. It is filled with down, and is soft and pleasant 
to the touch, and may be flattened and elongated almost 
to your liking. When you first lay it over your person, it 
feels cool and refreshing, but soon becomes intolerably 
hot, unless it is winter. Imagine our sleeping under these 
beds in July ! But the room is scrupulously clean, while 
the bed linen, towels, etc., are simply immaculate. The 
floors are waxed, and everything brushed until not a fly 
will risk its life by attempting to stand on it. Though 
these houses, some of them, are centuries old, of rats "not 
a sound is heard," and as to bedbugs, I did not see one in 
Germany. The lights are invariably two long candles, 
which you pay for, but are at liberty to take with you. 
So with the soap. Mark Twain says he soon carried can- 
dles enough away from hotels to fill his trunks. 

As we were fatigued from the tour of the Rhine, we 
soon fell asleep, nor awoke until the bright sunlight was 
streaming in through the windows, through which we saw 
again, on rising from our "downy beds," that lovely scene, 
"the blue Rhine sweeping along.'' We go down to break- 



•J^ EUROPEAN NOTES. 

fast to order what we wish, and pay for what we get. 
The ordinary German breakfast is bread, butter and coffee* 
Some few add a soft boiled ^%^. We ordered in addition 
beefsteak, of course, which the polite waiters speaking 
English, called "an English breakfast." We wait awhile 
and it comes in smoking hot, and elegantly served in the 
finest of china and purest of silver. Before leaving 
America, my friend, Col. Montgomery, United States 
consul at Leipsic, wrote me that I would often sigh for 
American cooking. I did not find it so. Better cooking, 
and better things cooked, I never saw. The coffee is 
strong, hot and fragrant ; the breads, always cold, are 
white and perfect, while the meats show plainly that they 
were prepared by a master hand. The steaks are cut 
thick and round, and look like a large muffin. They are 
juicy, well seasoned, and so tender that they almost "melt 
in your mouth." So much for the breakfast. While on 
the subject, I will say that the dinner is invariably a table 
d'hote^ which lasts about an hour and a half, is served in 
courses, every dish, however simple, being served on a 
separate plate, and the articles come in about the follow- 
ing order: soup; fish ; roast beef and potatoes; mutton; 
game ; one vegetable, such as asparagus or cauliflower ; 
'• comforts," (preserves in small plates, of which all are 
very fond); venison or turkey; ice cream or pastries; 
fruits and nuts, and lastly, and always, butter and cheese, 
after which comes a cup of coffee. Then candles are 
lighted, and cigars are handed around, which the gentle- 
men take, and smoke at tlie table and in presence of the 
ladies, unless they choose to retire, until the whole room 
is in a cloud of smoke. Each guest has his bottle of red 
or white wine by his plate, a pint being a small allowance 
for one man, and often for one lady, in going through 
with the meal. This table d'hote, in small places, is gene- 
rally served at one o^clock, in large cities, at six in the 
afternoon. Many do not eat any supper, but if they do, 
it is the same as the breakfast. The Germans love to 
eat, drink, and smoke, as I shall have occasion often to 
remark, and can do more of it, I will guarantee, than any 
nation on the face of the earth. 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG* "JJ 

But now for a stroll over Mayence, a city founded many 
years before the Christian era by Drusus, who was sent 
from Rome as governor and general for the colony. The 
streets are long and narrow, and the houses antiquated. 
The principal objects of interest are: first, the cathedral, 
which we inspected thoroughly, erected in 900, but being 
burned, was rebuilt in 1100, speaking in round numbers. 
It contains many fine statues, tombs and paintings. The 
museum is filled with Roman antiquities, collected to- 
gether and exhibited as the relics of that ancient and 
mighty people. Some of the fortifications and aqueducts 
built by Drusus still remain. We visited the shops, parks 
and gardens, and also the market, where we saw quite a 
number of peasants in their strange costumes, engaged in 
selling the products of their poultry yards and market 
gardens. To me, by far the most interesting object was 
the statue of Gutenberg, the inventor of printing. This 
statue was designed by the celebrated Thorwaldsen, exe- 
cuted at Paris, and erected in 1837. John Gutenberg was 
born in Mayence about the close of the fourteenth centu- 
ry, at number 23 Emerans street, as we learn from an 
inscription over the door. There is a saloon called the 
'' Civil Casino," with an inscription which tells it once be- 
longed to Gutenberg's mother. The garden contains a 
small statue of the inventor, erected in 1824. Gutenberg's 
first printing of^ce is in the Franciscan street. As I saw 
these things, and stood in front of his splendid statue, I 
meditated on the mighty results which have arisen from 
his great invention. It has already made the pen might- 
ier than the sword. Thinking of his humble beginning, 
my mind turned to the mighty newspapers in our land, 
the great streams that have flowed from this powerful 
little fountain. Think of his little hand press in that 
Franciscan street, and compare it with some of the pon- 
derous machines in the Franklin Printing House, Atlanta. 
Nay, think of Franklin himself as the disciple, in one 
sense, of Gutenberg. His name has shed a lustre on May- 
ence that must make it an object of interest to travelers 
from all parts of the world. Few there are who will not 
join in the wish of the poet who said : 



78 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

" M lyence, fair city, far may thy plaudits fly. 
For with the press thy name can never die. 
Still may thy guardian battlements withstand 
The ruthless shock, of war's destructive hand, 
Where Gutenberg with toil incessant wrought, 
. The imitative lines of written thought, 
And as his art a nobler effort made, 
The swifter lever his commands obeyed," 

But was he really the inventor of printing? Although 
the Germans are justly proud of Gutenberg, as an inde- 
pendent inventor of the great art about the year, 1440, it 
is well known that the Dutch clainn for their countryman, 
Lawrence Coster, the honor of the invention at a still ear- 
lier period, namely, in 1423. The story which has gone 
the rounds in former times, that Gutenberg learned the 
art from an assistant of Coster, is entirely without found- 
ation. The best judges and critics think that the honor 
of discovering the art of printing is due equally to both, 
while Gutenberg seems to have been much more success- 
ful in practicing the art than his Dutch rival. Whether 
Gutenberg or Coster was it that made the discovery, it 
marked an era in the history of the world. If you would 
know what it has done, and what it is worth, think what 
the world would be without it ! Destroy all the books 
and newspapers, burn up all the presses, and interdict 
their use in the future, what would be the character of 
the next generation ? Our own land has shared largely, 
most largely, because of freedom, in the blessing, and our 
own land should be the first to honor the memory of Gut- 
enberg and Coster. I close this reference with one of the 
best wishes I can make for my country: 

"Here may the press the people's rights maintain, 
Unawed by power and unbribed by gain." 

FRANKFORT-ON-TIIE-MAIN, ETC. 
Having visited all the objects of interest about May- 
ence, we concluded to go on to the former capital of Ger- 
many, Frankfort -on-the-Main, (pronounced in German 
Mine,) which was distant about fifteen miles, and we made 
the trip by rail in three-quarters of an hour. The city 
lies in a spacious plain, and is surrounded by beautiful 
mountains. It contains about 120,000 inhabitants, dates 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 79 

from the time of Charlemagne; and was, until recently, 
one of the free towns of the German Confederation, which 
bore the name of the Hanseatic League. At present, 
only Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck belong to that 
League. It is called Frankfort-on-the Main from the river 
on which it is situated, in contradistinction from Frank- 
fort-on-the Oder, another German city. 

In a commercial, and especially financial, point of view, 
Frankfort is one of the most important cities in Germany. 
It is indeed a great financial centre, where one of the 
most distinguished of the Rothschilds lives, and reigns 
supreme. Having business with his bank, we called on 
him, and had the pleasure of seeing this great financial 
wonder of the world. He is a large, heavily built, corpu- 
lent man, with jet black hair and eyes, and brunette com- 
plexion. He wears side whiskers, appeared to be about 
fifty-five, and wore the appearance of a man who was con- 
scious that he owned the lever, that with the mere pressure 
of his hand could shake, if not overturn, governments. 
And still there is no one member of the Rothschild 
family who is as rich as Wm. H. Vanderbilt, of New York. 
Baron Rothschild is, of course, a Jew, and while the Jews 
are despised and persecuted in Russia, and hated and 
ostracised in Germany, such is the power of this money 
king, that he is honored and respected, or rather, feared 
by all. 

During our stay in Frankfort, we were the guests of the 
celebrated Frankfort Hotel, (Frankfurter Hof,) which for 
size, elegance, and all the comforts and conveniences of a 
great caravansary, is unsurpassed on the Continent. 

We took a walk over the city, and discovered that while 
there are three or four beautiful streets, such as Teil, New 
Main, King, etc., the old part of the town consists of nar- 
row and unattractive streets, from which unpleasant odors 
are ever arising, resembling those of Cologne (I mean the 
city). In one of our strolls along these filthy thorough- 
fares we lost our reckoning, and as it was late at night, 
and the sidewalks were filled with noisy beer-guzzlers, and 
offensive people generally, we became a little uneasy. 
We wandered as far as the banks of Main, which enabled 



80 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

US to direct our steps in the right direction, and we were 
glad enough to get back to our hotel. The town is sur- 
rounded by public grounds that are very beautiful, and in 
the midst of lovely little parks some stately residences 
have been erected. 

One of the most interesting objects that I witnessed at 
Frankfort, was the celebrated panorama of the battle of 
Sedan, It was certainly the next best thing to seeing 
the battle itself. This panorama has a spiral temple built 
for its exhibition, covering nearly an acre of ground, and 
the scenery is so arranged that you cannot tell where the 
natural ends, and the artificial begins. Real houses, 
wagons, balls, cannon, trees, etc., are spread around, just 
as the artist imagined them to have stood during the bat- 
tle, and the eye passes from these to the scenes on the 
canvas without perceiving the transition. King William, 
Moltke, Bismarck, and renowned generals and dukes were 
plainly visible, together with the Crown Prince ; and 
on the other hand, we could see Louis Napoleon and 
his generals, and the great armies of both in mutual com- 
bat. Dead horses, dead soldiers, burning houses, bursting 
shells, the smoke of battle, and all the accompaniments 
of a deadly struggle were as plainly visible, and as appa- 
rently real, as if we had been an eye witness in a good po- 
sition, of that great and final struggle of the Franco- 
Prussian war. Another panorama, similar in size and 
character, but of the battle of Gravilotte, I saw in Ber- 
lin, and one of the siege of Paris, I viewed in the French 
capital ; and I do not hesitate to say that they are simply 
wonderful, and better than anything that comes from pen, 
or brush, or chisel, in conveying a correct idea of the real 
nature and horrors of war. They are at the same time 
an admirable way to commemorate the brave actors in 
such fearful scenes. Frankfort has its galleries, fine 
chiseled monuments, libraries, opera houses, palm and 
zoological gardens, but as I shall have occasion to allude 
to these things as seen on a far grander scale, I will not 
describe them here. 

As our Consul General lived at Frankfort, I had occa- 
sion to visit this place again, and to have frequent com- 




OBERSTEIN ON THE IIHINE. 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 8 1 

munication with it, and I must say that I like it. But the 
twenty five days allowed in making my transit are rapidly 
passing, and I must hasten to my post of duty at Sonne- 
berg. There were two routes, one by Eisenach, running 
northeast, and the other by Bamberg, running east, while 
my objective point lay on the Werra road, which connects 
these two lines. Leaving Frankfort by the Bamberg route 
early in the morning, during fine weather, we had a splen- 
did opportunity to view the best farming district of Ger- 
many, where vast tracts of land were so neatly fenced and 
so artistically cultivated, that they looked like endless 
chains of luxuriant kitchen gardens. We soon came to 
Wurzberg, which is a great railroad centre, of about forty 
thousand, with a fine University, many elegant residences, 
and superb stores. The passenger depot, or "Bahnhof," 
is like a palace for costliness and magnificence, x^t every 
station there are beer saloons ; every town is full of them, 
but the one at Wurzberg is a marvel. Thousands crowd 
the place all the time, some to go in one direction, some 
in another. . If you want to go to Berlin, Vienna, Rome, 
Paris, London, or anywhere else on earth, first go to 
Wurzberg. 

Having spent an hour or two very pleasantly at Wurz- 
berg, we proceeded on our journey, and soon came to 
Bamberg, a fine place of thirty thousand. Another fine 
depot and beer saloon, or restaurant, are here, where 
everything to eat and drink can be had in abundance, and 
at a trifling cost. Here we take the train for Coberg, and 
reach there at two o'clock, beholding for the first time this 
far-famed seat of the ducal family of Saxe Coburg and 
Gotha, out of which came the husbands of Princess 
Charlotte of Wales, and Queen Victoria. A glimpse shows 
us that, with its girdle of grand villas, and castled hills 
and heaven pointing spires, it is a grand and beautiful 
city. But as it will soon have in these notes a full de- 
scription, I pass on to take the cars for Sonneberg, twelve 
miles distant. We go through a country carpeted with 
green, bordered with handsome stone fences, intersected 
by roads that are as white as the driven snow and hard as 
adamant, a country ornamented with blooming flowers, 

6 



82 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

in the midst of which scene beautiful residences, lofty 
towers, frowning castles, enchanting palaces, and smiling 
villages meet our vision at every turn. The whistle blows, 
the train stops, and on the outside of a capacious and at- 
tractive passenger depot, just beneath a huge clock, we 
read in bold characters the name of SONNEBERG. 

SONNEBERG. 

Having alighted irom the train, the city of Sonneberg, 
containing twelve thousand inhabitants, was spread out 
before us, nestled among towering hills, belonging to the 
initial chain of the Thuringian mountains, and piesentinga 
most picturesque appearance. It resembles some of the 
places 1 afterwards saw in Switzerland, and, indeed, far 
famed Thuringia is called the Switzerland of Germany. 

But it may be asked, why should a United States con- 
sulate be located here ? To this I reply, that Sonneberg is 
the entrepot of Thuringia, a mountainous district compris- 
ing eight duchies and principalities, in all of which are 
extensive manufactories, producing goods that are annu- 
ally shipped to the United States. All this region is em- 
braced in the Sonneberg Consular District, which makes 
it one of the most important in the German Empire. The 
consular seat was located at Sonneberg, because that is a 
great German-American manufacturing place, containing 
about one hundred and fifty factories, and is the most 
convenient place for manufacturers, all over the district, 
to come to, to have their invoices legalized. There are 
several large cities in the district, among them Coburg, 
Meiningen, Eisenach, Gotha. Erfurt, Weimar, etc., but 
Sonneberg is the most thrifty and numerous in factories, 
and nearer than any to the great railway lines running to 
the sea. To show the extent of the commerce between 
this district and the United States, I will state that during 
the year ending September 30, 1882, over two millions of 
dollars' worth of goods were exported through the Sonne- 
berg consulate to the United States. These goods con- 
sisted chiefly of toys and china goods, but also embraced 
hardware, guns, smokers' articles, paints, drugs, and min- 
eral waters, Kissingen and Friederich's hall being in the 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBEKG. 83 

district. Invoices of these goods were brought daily to 
the consulate for certification, to the nunnber of from 
twenty to forty. Without the consular seal and signa- 
ture, they could not be admitted into American ports. 

But this constitutes only one of the duties of a consul. 
In addition, he has to give protection, when needed, to 
American citizens in his district, procure for them their 
passports, and often entertain them at his home. It is his 
duty to look after and take charge of the estates of Amer- 
ican citizens who die abroad ; and, also, to look after lega- 
cies, or other claims which Americans may wish to put 
into the consul's hands. Then comes notarial work, such 
as is performed by a notary public in this country, and, 
lastly, legalizing marriages — no marriage of an American 
citizen abroad being valid in the United States courts, 
unless performed in the presence of the consul. 

The most laborious work of all was the preparation of 
a monthly report on common or other matters of interest 
to our government, for publication by the State depart- 
ment at Washington. These reports were sometimes of 
the most difficult nature, and had to be prepared with the 
greatest care so as to meet the approbation of the Secre- 
tary of State, by whose order they were made, under act 
of Congress. And here I will remark that these "Consular 
Reports" are filled with the most valuable information, 
especially on all subjects o( commerce. They also contain 
important papers on other subjects of interest to the gen- 
eral reader. 

To attend to all these duties at this inland consulate, 
there were a consul, vice-consul and secretary. At large 
seaport consulates the duties are much heavier. 

The vice consul at Sonneberg, Mr. George Ortelli, was 
a most accomplished man, who had been eight years in 
London, and could speak English as well as German. He, 
with the aid of the German secretary, could often attend 
to most of the work, and give me fine opportunities to 
travel. 

While the office was located at Sonneberg, there was a 
branch office at Coburg, where my predecessor lived for 
twelve years, and where the Secretary of State told me I 



§4 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

could reside also, and be required to go to Sonnebergonly 
once or twice a week. 

Sonneberg did not please us at first. What with the 
smoke of the factories, the filthy streets, and crowds of 
peasants connected with the factories, and thronging the 
streets with huge baskets of toys on their backs, the out- 
look did not seem in the least attractive. The 'Consulate' 
I found to be quite a nice building, containing three 
elegant rooms for ofifices, with the United States coat of 
arms displayed in conspicuous colors, both on the outside 
and inside of the house, while overall waved the stars and 
stripes, "emblem of fair freedom land." I went through 
tise "formalities on arrival at post," and was regularly in- 
stalled. These formalities are beautiful and pleasant. 
The Secretary of State, United States Minister at Berlin, 
Consul General at Frankfort, and all the American con- 
suls in Germany must be written to and replies received. 
Many of these replies, especially from the consular corps, 
warmly congratulated the new consul on his safe arrival 
and entrance on his duties. Before these formalities are 
observed, however, the consul must receive an exeqtiatur 
from Emperor William empowering him to act. This I 
found awaiting me on my arrival, so that I had no trouble. 
The next thing to do is to call in person on the officers of 
the government where the consulate is located, embracing 
the Dukes and their Ministers of State. After this, calls 
must be made on consuls and diplomatic representatives 
of other countries stationed there. All this work, from 
its very novelty, afforded me quite a pleasure, and more 
will be said of this hereafter. 

Our quarters at Sonneberg were at Krug's Hotel, one 
of the best hotels I met with during my whole stay in 
Europe. It is kept by Frau Krug, and the English for 
Krug is Jug — one would think a good name for some 
hotels, but there was no bar kept here, and everything 
was of the best and nicest kind. Fine rooms, fine beds, 
and fine fare are the specialties of Krug's. Frau Krug's 
husband, Herr Krug, which in English is Mr. Jug, killed 
bjmself drinking, so that he bore a most appropriate name. 
Sonneberg, I have said, is a picturesque place. There 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. S$ 

are several buildings there of peculiar interest. One is an 
old castle, two hundred and fifty years old. Another is. 
the magnificent Gothic church, with stained glass win- 
dows, another, the splendid new postofifice, the shooting 
house, the club houses, and especially the old Luther 
house, where Luther once dwelt, and where many relics 
of the great reformer are shown. 

We took a walk through the town, strolled through the 
cemetery, attended church where we heard a sermon^ 
hardly one word of which we could understand, and re- 
turned to compare notes as to how we liked the situation, 

COBURG. 

Having settled regularly upon my work as United 
States consul at Sonneberg, and spent a few days in view- 
ing the town and its surroundings, we proceeded to Co- 
burg. We remained in Sonneberg long enough to find 
that all we had heard as to cheap living in Germany, as 
far as first-class accommodations are concerned, was un- 
true; and we thought, if it was no better in Coburg, with. 
the style in which I was compelled to live as a represent- 
ative of the "best government the world ever saw,'' and 
the amount of salary attached to the consulate, that the 
prospect of making both ends meet was gloomy indeed. 
At Coburg, however, we were agreeably surprised to find 
house rent, and the prices of articles for home consump- 
tion, much cheaper than in Sonneberg. A noble lady,, 
who had an elegant "villa," and who wished to travel, rent- 
ed me her house, furniture and magnificent grounds, at a 
comparatively low figure, and we set up housekeeping. 

Coburg is a lovely city of about twenty thousand inhab- 
itants, and noted for its legendary history, its fine old cas- 
tle, its splendid palaces, its renowned gymnasium, and its 
elegant private residences. The place is one of special 
interest to English people and their American cousins, 
because it is the home of that celebrated ducal family, the 
Saxe Coburg and Gotha, from which have sprung nearly all 
the crowned heads who now sit upon the thrones of the 
world, chief of whom is Queen Victoria, "a slight bruise 
on whose knee" is sufificient to keep busy the telegraphic 



8® EUROPEAN NOTES. 

wires of the world, to call forth long editorials from the 
most cultured writers, to evoke earnest prayers from 
myriad pulpits, and cause hundreds of millions of people 
to pause in most anxious solicitude. 

I have already said that the Secretary of State permit- 
ted my predecessor to establish a branch of^ce, and to 
reside here, and he gave me the same privilege. 

The former consul was Mr. Henry J. Winser, of New 
Jersey, and though I did not know him personally, an 
examination of the perfect manner in which he kept his 
books, composed his reports, and attended to all his duties, 
showed that he was a first-class officer in every particular ; 
and the way in which he conducted himself in society, as 
attested by the high encomiums of the best people in the 
district, plainly indicated that he was a first-class Christian 
gentleman. I have no idea that there was a better con- 
sul in all Europe. 

I had learned much of Coburg through Dr. Bozeman, 
of Macon, Ga., who spent about two years in that city, 
and in Mr. Winser's family, and I was prepared for the 
pleasant social reception which we received. I had letters 
of introduction from Dr. Bozeman's family to the family 
of General Cordeman, an old and distinguished Franco- 
Prussian war officer, who was one of the leaders of society 
there. From the first to the last, he, his wife and three 
accomplished daughters were our fast friends, and did us 
many acts of kindness, for which I shall be ever grateful. 
The General, who had been commandant at Nancy during 
the war referred to, was now a retired officer, and devoted 
his time to his friends, and to fishing, of which sport he 
was very fond. They all spoke English with nearly as 
much facility as German, and it may be imagined how 
useful they were to us at a time when we were almost 
entirely ignorant of the German language. 

Another family whose acquaintance, friendship and 
kindly attentions were of incalculable value, was that of 
Mr. Charles Stewart Scott, British c/iarge d'affaires 2X Co- 
burg, sent there more as a compliment to Duke Ernest, 
the brother of Prince Albert, than anything else. He 
had ample time at his disposal to assist a new consul in 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 8/ 

mastering those social forms, which are regarded of such 
vital importance in a community where position and style 
are everything. Mr. Scott was an experienced Secretary 
of Legation, and had but recently been promoted to 
his present position, was highly cultivated, and of most so- 
ciable and agreeable manners, while his beautiful and ac- 
complished wife was one of the real attractions of Coburg 
society. One family after another was added to our cir- 
cle, or rather, we were admitted into one family after an- 
other, until we found ourselves in the midst of as large, and 
refined, and interesting a community of friends as can be 
found in a city of the same size anywhere in the world. 
"As elegant as a Coburger" is an expression often em- 
ployed by the elite in our country, and is a distinction 
that those who have an ambition for such things might 
well covet. As an illustration of what I say, I will mention 
here some of the families composing this upper crust of 
Coburg society, to which my consular commission gave me 
a XQZ.^y entree, and which added not a little to our enjoy- 
ment in that far off, foreign land, viz : Baron Stockmar, 
son of the celebrated Baron Stockmar, who was for many 
years the private counsellor of Princess Charlotte of 
Wales, and her husband, Leopold, afterwards King of the 
Belgians; and also foster father of Queen Victoria and 
Prince Albert, considered by many as the real "power be- 
hind the throne" of England for a long period of years. 
His monument, erected by order and at the expense of 
three sovereigns, stands in the Coburg cemetery. The 
son of whom I speak now, had both a city and a country 
estate, his city residence being fitted up in the grandest 
style, and the scene of frequent elegant, social entertain- 
ments. Baron Imhof, though an old bachelor, was a prom- 
inent leader in social matters, and withal a most genial 
and agreeable man. He owns, in the vicinity of Coburg, 
the beautiful castle of Hohenstein, (Highstone,) built by 
his ancestors, but renovated and improved by himself, and 
which is daily visited by tourists on account of the beauty 
and grandeur of the place. He is popular with the ladies, 
and has been so for many years, and is always seen at the 
parties, in the club houses, on the public drives, or on the 



88 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

ice pond, skating being one of the most popular amuse- 
ments in that cold region. Count Ordenberg was, perhaps, 
the most distinguished by blood, being one of the "medi- 
ated" counts of Germany, who are permitted to marry 
even the daughter of an emperor. I never fancied him 
much. With all his high blood, and other advantages, he 
was unpopular on account of his snobbish ways. Baron 
Lowenfels was the former chief marshal of the ducal 
court, a near relative of Prince Albert, at whose marriage 
he was present, and one of the most perfect gentlemen I 
ever met. His wife, called "Excellenz," a title nearly 
equivalent to that of Baroness, was a charming old lady. 
Baroness Von Konigseck, a near relative to the duke 
and wife of the Cavalier of the Duke of Edinburgh, v/as 
one of the handsomest, noblest, and most agreeable ladies 
it has ever been my privilege to see. Her children were 
equally lovely. Her little girl of four years could speak 
English fluently. All of these noble ladies, and most of 
the gentlemen speak English well, and French with still 
greater facility. Baroness Von Grunhof, widow of the 
Duke of Wurtemburg, who owned a beautiful residence, 
almost a palace, was accomplished and lovely, and her 
grown daughter, who, it was reported, was soon to marry 
the son of the German minister to Italy, was one of the 
most highly cultured and charming of young ladies. 

Baron Waggenheim, the present chief marshal of the 
Duke, belongs to a family whose ancestry dates back more 
than six hundred years, many of whom are highly distin- 
guished. Baron Roppert, the chief ducal master of the 
horse, is splendid looking, elegant in his manners, and the 
very man to take the lead on State occasions. President 
Ewald, president of the ducal estates, was a thoroughly 
wise, intelligent, faithful public officer, and a warm hearted 
gentleman and friend. He was the most intimate friend 
my predecessor had, and he and his large and interesting 
family showed us every kindness and attention. Privy 
Counsellor Rose was also one of the most sociable and 
agreeable of men. He had the misfortune to lose his wife 
during our stay, which excluded him from social enjoy- 
ments, in which he always took great interest. Among 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 89 

our intimate friends was the family of Herr Von Brodo- 
retti, formerly a State ofificer, but now retired. It would 
be difficult to find a more accomplished family in the 
world. Their little children could speak several lan- 
guages. Baron Lizkowski. a Prussian nobleman, with his 
wife and daughter, " Elsbeth," endeared themselves to us 
as none else did, or could, and memory will ever linger 
with delight on the happy experiences which marked our 
intercourse with this truly noble household. Another 
family in which we took deep interest, and with whom 
we were very intimate, was that of Mr. Oscar Strasberger, 
a merchant prince, who has two immense exporting 
establishments, one in Coburg, and one in New York. 
His residence in Coburg is superb, fronting on the incom- 
parable "Hofgarten," and his store in New York, on Broad- 
way, is one of the largest and finest in that city. Mr. 
Strasberger spends about half his time in New York, and 
his wife often accompanies him. Another friend, was Mr, 
Rudolph Epner, likewise a merchant prince, worth mil- 
lions of dollars, and living in a palace almost as fine as the 
duke's. His entertainments are on a royal scale, and 
many think, quite equal to those of his Highness. Still 
another frie-nd was Mr. Forkel, a celebrated lawyer, as may 
be known from the fact, that he has been for many years 
Queen's Counsellor, as well as counsellor for the dukes 
and princes of Coburg. And really, these are not all 
whose contributions to social life have rendered Coburg 
such a famous place. For after the F"ranco-Prussian war, 
many celebrated generals, wishing to retire from service, 
fixed upon Coburg for their abode, and erected eJegant 
villas on the sites of the old fortifications. Last, and 
greatest of all, the fountain from which all these streams 
have sprung, and at the same time, the reservoir towards 
which they all, as they increase in power and influence, 
flow, is the DucAL Family of Coburg, an account of 
which I will give in a separate chapter. 

THE DTjKE of MEININGEN. 

Republican as we Americans are, we all like to have a 
touch and a taste of royalty. Where was a man ever 



90 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

more honored than the Prince of Wales when he visited 
the United States many years ago ? I was a student then 
in Richmond College, and I well remember the excite- 
ment occasioned in that capital city by this youth of 19 
years. ''The learned decked their halls to greet him, the 
lowly walked out to look upon him — a congregated nation 
gathered around him,'' These words taken from the in- 
comparable eulogy on LaFayette when he came to Amer- 
ica after fifty years absence, are even more appropriate to 
the Prince of Wales when he came on a sight-seeing ex- 
pedition, the great grandson, as he was, of George the 3d, 
whose power LaFayette did so much to destroy. Look, 
too, at the Grand Duke Alexis. What a fuss was made 
over him! How he was feted and feasted, and what 
efforts were made to amuse his Highness in hunting and 
other sports of the great West ! While I write, his sister, 
the Duchess of Edinburgh, is almost within a stone's throw 
of me, for she is spending the summer here at Coburg, of 
which duchy her husband. Queen Victoria's second son, is 
the future ruler, and not half the fuss is made over this 
duchess here as was made over her brother in America. 
This lady, with her sweet children, the princes and prin- 
cesses, is frequently seen on the streets shopping, bows 
pleasantly to every one passing, cuts at the dogs as they 
bark at her vehicle driving along the streets, which she 
does herself in a one-horse carriage, often without a foot- 
man. Yes, this duchess is about as fine a specimen of 
the lady and woman as royalty affords. The daughter of 
the assassinated Czar and daughterin law of England's 
queen is here one of a hundred, or I might say, thousand, 
and creates but little excitement. But should she visit 
America, what a flutter, what a demonstration there would 
be! And I confess I possess this sd^nx^ penchant for roy- 
alty and have had it in some sense gratified. 

But I purposed to write about the duke of Mein- 
ingen. Sonneberg, being the largest town in his duchy, 
and one of the most important export places in Europe, 
is a great favorite with the duke ; and as the exports are 
chiefly with America, he always shows marked attention 
to the American Consul here. In looking over the records 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 9I 

of the office, I find that in former years his father, 
when he was duke, made an annual visit to Sonneberg of 
several days' duration, and always during the time was the 
guest of the American Consul, who at that time resided at 
Sonneberg. This fact was of so much importance that 
the consul communicated it to his government. I had 
not been in Germany long when, having sent hi? High- 
ness my card, I received in response a cordial invitation 
to a dinner at his splendid palace in Meiningen City, and 
in this invitation he included my whole family. When we 
reached the city we found we were met by the splendid 
equipage of the duke, whose wish it was that we should 
proceed at once to the palace, but as our toilets were not 
in order, we proceeded first to the hotel. Soon a foot- 
man came, saying we were all, the children included, ex- 
pected at the palace at two o'clock. Promptly we were roll- 
ed around through beds of flowers and showy avenues of 
trees, to the "portcullis" of the great schloss, where we 
were met by liveried servants, who escorted us to other 
liveried servants, who conducted us to the cloak room and 
then into the reception room, where their highnesses 
soon joined us, elegantly attired and with manners as easy, 
familiar and assuring as if they had been in every 
sense our well known friends. Two other guests were 
present, Dr. Johannes Brahms, the eminent Vienna com- 
poser, who was at that time performing at the duke's thea- 
tre, and a student of music, a particular friend of the family. 
In half an hour dinner was announced, when the duke, 
taking Mrs. Wharton on his arm, and I the "duchess" on 
mine. Dr. Brahms escorting my daughter, the student my 
niece, and my little son going alone, we proceeded to the 
dining-room, where we enjoyed for two hours, without 
doubt, the finest dinner I have ever seen. The service 
was as rich as the goldsmith's art could make it, the flow- 
ers that decorated the tables as lovely as nature and art 
combined could render them, and the fourteen courses and 
the fourteen different kinds of wines, and unique German 
"favors'' dispensed at the close, and the delightful humor 
that prevailed, all made the occasion exceedingly inter- 
esting. Soon after dinner, as it was growing late, we re- 



92 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

tired, after accepting an invitation from his Highness to 
be present at Dr. Brahm's concert that night. The duke 
of Meiningen is a cousin of Queen Victoria, a cousin also 
of the duke of Coburg, the son-in-law of the king of Prus 
sia on account of his first wife, his second wife being a 
niece of Queen Victoria. His present wife was an actress, 
and won the duke by her beauty and fascinating manners. 
If not by blood, she is by nature, a duchess. Before mar- 
rying her, the duke bestowed upon her the Castle Held- 
burg with the title of baroness. She is a sweet and fas- 
cinating woman and very popular throughout the duchy. 
A son of the duke of Meiningen married the daughter of 
the Crown Prince of Germany, and hence a granddaughter 
of Queen Victoria. Unlike many dukes, the duke of 
Meiningen is a devoted husband, a wise and good ruler, 
neither proud nor conceited, though one of the handsom- 
est of men and possessing the best blood of Europe in his 
veins. He is the owner of several castles and has an in- 
come of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars per 
annum. 

FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION AT LEIPSIC. 

For many years, it has been the custom of Americans 
resident and traveling abroad to hold, under the auspices 
of the diplomatic and consular corps, celebrations of 
American Independence on the 4th of July. Soon after 
my appointment, I received a letter from Hon. J. E. 
Montgomery, U. S. Consul at Leipsic, urging me to sail 
in time to attend the annual celebration to be held there 
July 4, 1881. This I could nor do, as we only left New 
York July i6th, and did not reach my post till August 
6th. In 1882, however, I received the following letter 
which came in time for my acceptance : 

"Leipsic, May ii, 1882. 
''Hon. M. B. Wharton, U. S. Consul : 

My Dear Sir : — We have commenced our preparations 
here for a grand banquet on the 4th of July, to commem- 
orate our io6th anniversary. We wish to make it general 
for Germany, and I am to invite all the consuls to co- 



BY RAIL AND SAIL T(J SONNEBERG. 93 

operate. Berlin consents, as usual. It has been the 
custom for several years past. I hope you will take 
charge of the matter for your district, and that we shall 
have the pleasure of seeing you and Mrs. Wharton. Many 
ladies will be present, and I hope we shall have a grand 
meeting of our countrymen and countrywomen. I will 
soon send you some circulars. I hope the occasion will 
enable me to make your personal acquaintance. 

In haste, very truly your colleague, 
J. E. Montgomery, 
U. S. Consul." 
Having accepted this invitation, Col. Montgomery again 
wrote me, stating I had been booked for an after dinner 
speech on the subject of "American Citizenship !'' Reach- 
ing Leipsic the morning of the 4th, I spent the day view- 
ing the city, though I had been there twice before. There 
is always something interesting in that city to see, its 
busy streets, its magnificent stores, its incomparable Uni- 
versity, its grand museum and picture galleries, its con- 
servatory of music, its old and historic churches, its quaint 
legendary buildings, its monuments, and its battle scenes. 
At six o'clock, dressed in "evening costume," (for here in 
Germany the utmost punctiliousness is observed,) we pro- 
ceeded to the large Merchant's Hall (Kaufmannischer 
Verein), which we found beautifully festooned and deco- 
rated with American flags and evergreens, and where 
guests were rapidly assembling from all portions of Europe 
and the United States. After so long a residence among 
foreigners, what a pleasure it was to see them, and hear 
them, for I confess that one articulation of English is 
worth to me whole volumes of "the sweet German accent." 
Besides the numerous Americans present, there were 
many distinguished invited guests, among them Dr. Luth- 
hardt, the distinguished president of the Leipsic Univer- 
sity, which has 160 professors and 3,000 students, a man 
whose fame as a scholar fills both continents ; also the 
director of the great Conservatory of Music in Leipsic, 
the mayor of Leipsic, distinguished representatives of the 
press, and many eminent ministers, both German and 
American. A magnificent band was in attendance, which 



94 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

discoursed the most thrilling and charming music. The 
dinner was superb, consisting of fifteen courses, and every- 
thing that the best market in Europe could afford. A 
national air was played while each course was being 
served, and it was really an aid to appetite and digestion 
to hear "Hail Columbia," "Star Spangled Banner," "Yan- 
kee Doodle,'' "Marseillais,'' "God save the Queen," etc., 
discoursed by one of the finest bands in the world. Those 
who drank wine had all that heart could wish, for Bor- 
deaux, Moselle and Champagne flowed without stint. 
Those who did not drink wine substituted the finest of 
mineral water, and with that drank to the honor of "the 
best government the world ever saw." 

At the close of the banquet toasts were introduced in a 
fine speech by Col. Montgomery, and he was followed by 
the speakers in order, amid the uproarious hilarity of the 
vast crowd and the most delicious strains of music. The 
consular corps was represented in the speaking by Col. 
Montgomery, Master of Ceremonies, Hon. Mr. Brewer, 
Consul General of Berlin, and the consul of Sonneberg. 
The following was my speech on the occasion, as well as 
I can reproduce it : 

AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP. 

Mr. President : — It was the proudest boast of ancient 
times to be called a citizen of Rome. It was no mean dis- 
tinction, for it was a time when the Roman eagles had 
flown to the uttermost parts of the earth. Gaul and 
Germany had been rendered tributary, Britain had suc- 
cumbed, the East was prostrate before the imperial arms, 
and all the waters that flowed into the Adriatic Sea were 
rolling along the sounds of victory. But the proudest 
boast that man can make to day is that he is an American 
citizen — a citizen of that empire of the West where our 
proud bird, the American eagle, arches its neck and 
extends its wings over fifty millions of united freemen ! 
All that is sweet in liberty, dear in fraternity and hallowed 
in religion, is enshrined, is crystalized in our free consti- 
tution. Who can tell the privileges conferred by Ameri- 
can citizenship? There "honor and shame from no 



BY RAIL AND SAIL TO SONNEBERG. 95 

condition rise," but the shepherd's crook is of equal 
importance with the sceptre ; there every man can sit under 
his own vine and fig tree and worship God according to the 
dictates of his own conscience, with none to molest him 
or make him afraid ; there every citizen is a sovereign, and 
every cottage a castle whose threshold is sacred against 
intrusion. The ancient Roman said, "Where liberty 
dwells, there is my country.'' With equal pride we can 
say, Wherever our government dwells, there is liberty. In 
this respect we illustrate the ideas of an old lady in North 
Carolina in regard to State lines. She lived not far from 
the line which divided that State from Virginia, It was 
determined by the Legislature that the line should be 
changed so as to bring the section where she lived into 
Virginia. "I am so glad," she said, "they are going to 
change the State line, for I always heard it was unhealthy 
in North Carolina." Changing the lines of our govern- 
ment so as to take in other sections does make a difference 
with these sections, for they breathe at once the pure, free 
air of liberty, and awake to a new birth, a new life, a new 
destiny. "The moment I touch American soil,'' said Mr. 
Webster, "from whatever direction I come, I seem to 
breathe freer and deeper." 

Other nations have recognized this truth, and how they 
have come to us! Look at Castle Garden. Look at the 
steamers ever crowded with immigrants! Look at our 
consular reports ! And America extends citizenship and 
a home to all worthy comers who will accept of it. Under 
our free institutions what has not been accomplished ! 
Forests have been leveled, magnificent cities have been 
upreared ; the land has been checkered by incomparable 
railroads ; palaces float upon every river ; yea, the earth 
has yielded her increase, and the waves, and the wind, 
and the lightning have been made to do the bidding of 
the enterprising American citizen. Innumerable factories 
smoke from every hill-top and valley, the hum of whose 
machinery is second only to the "music of the spheres," 
and whose admirable products are (shall I say largely by 
consular influence?) finding their way to all the markets 
of the world. 



96 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

I close as I began, with the declaration that I am proud 
that I am an American citizen — proud, perhaps, as another 
American who came over some time ago, whom I will tell 
you of and then take my seat. His friends concluded that 
he was a little green and that travel would help him, so they 
brought him to Europe. They showed him the Rhine 
and afterwards the "beautiful blue Danube.'' "Why,'' 
said he, "there are the Hudson, the St. Johns — either can 
beat them ; and then there is the Mississippi, the 'father 
of all the waters.' Hurrah for America! always ahead." 
They showed him the magnificent mountains of Switzer- 
land. "Why, they aint a circumstance to Mt. Washing- 
ton," said he, "hurrah for America!" They showed him 
Lucerne and Geneva lakes. "Nothing to Superior and 
Erie,'' said he ; "hurrah for America ! always ahead." They 
carried him to Venice and showed him the Bridge of 
Sighs. "Why, this is not equal to a million of our bridg- 
es," said he. "Look at the bridge at St. Louis — that is a 
bridge of size I — hurrah for America !'' They carried him 
to Vesuvius and showed him the awful crater. He 
reflected a moment and said, "Well, we may not have a 
mountain like this, but I'll tell you, we've got a little 
waterfall over there called Niagara, that can put this 
thing out in five minutes." They took him to Rome and 
showed him the catacombs, and by this time he had 
drank too much of the ardent, and fell asleep in those 
dark subterranean passages. He awoke next morning, 
and feeling around, got hold of some of the bones of the 
martyrs, and exclaimed, "Well, at last ! the morning of 
resurrection, and I am the first man on the ground. Hur- 
rah for America — always ahead !'' 

The entertainment lasted from 6 to 12 o'clock, when, 
after exchanging greetings and brief conversations with 
American men and women, 

"And pledging oft to meet again, 
We tore ourselves asunder." 

It was an occasion long to be remembered. 



I, I 




CHAPTER IV. 



THE DUCAL FAMILY OF COBURG. 

When, in 1839, it was announced that Queen Victoria 
was going to marry Prince Albert, of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, 
the greater part of England, and the whole world, held 
up its hands in amazement that she was to make such a 
sacrifice of herself. They said she was going to marry 
"beneath her;" that her af^anced was " poor," a "petty 
German prince," the son of a "petty German duke," etc. 
There is no denying the fact, and it should be spoken to 
the eternal praise of Victoria, that her marriage to Albert 
was a love match, a thing that very rarely happens among 
the royalty. She had offers from several crowned heads, a 
particularly persistent one being the Crown Prince Frede- 
rick of Germany, but she declined them all for her own 
loved Albert, who was, indeed, if not a great ruler, yet "a 
king among men." That was a fortunate moment for the 
young Queen when, taking a morning ride with Albert, 
who was on a visit to her at Clermont, she reined up her 
horse, and tenderly and lovingly (according to the eti- 
quette in such cases) proposed to take him as her Consort. 
And it was a fortunate one for Albert, too, for she was 
both the mightiest ruler of earth and at the same time a 
"queen among wpmen." But nothing could be more 
senseless, absurd and ridiculous than the twaddle heard 
at the time, that Albert was not the Queen's equal, that 
he was a poor, petty German prince, etc., when he was 
really one of the first, most accomplished, and most 
sought after by aspiring princesses of all the royal blood 
of Europe. That the queen did not marry beneath her 
is evidenced by the fact that she married her own first 
cousin, Albert's father and her mother being brother and 



98 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

sister. Indeed, she was related to Albert by her father's 
as well as her mother's side. Her father was the Duke of 
Kent, the son of George III., of American revolutionary 
memory, and the mother of George III. was the Princess 
Augusta of Coburg, the great aunt of Prince Albert. The 
truth is, the Coburg family, into which Queen Victoria 
married, is one of the most celebrated in history, and con- 
nected with nearly all the thrones of Europe. 

It is impossible to read a history of Europe without 
reading the biography of some distinguished member 
of this family. Some of them have been distinguished as 
statesmen, some as warriors, and nearly all as rulers. I 
have the family tree, an exact copy of that in possession of 
the Coburg house, as the Duchess of Coburg herself told 
me, and I find that it dates back i,ooo years, and num- 
bers among its members such names as Louis, the Beard- 
ed, son of Charles; Duke of Lorraine, grandson of Louis 
XIV. of France, who obtained from his relative, the Em- 
peror Conrad II., the greater part of Thuringia ; Louis 
II., who built the Wartburg, and also Reinhardtsbrun, one 
of the finest seats of the dukes; Louis VI., who married 
the daughter of the King of Hungary in 1227 at Otranto 
on his way to the Holy Land ; Friedrich IV., the first 
Elector of Saxony ; Friedrich the Wise, the protector of 
Luther, who did more for the Reformation than any other 
man, Luther excepted, without whose aid Luther never 
could have succeeded, humanly speaking; John Ernest, 
who built the castle of Ehrenberg ; Ernest, the Pious, one 
of the mightiest men of his time, the bulwark of the Re- 
formation, of whom there are no less that thirty biogra- 
phies written. He was the real founder of the Gotha 
line, from which Albert and Victoria are equally the sixth 
in descent. Bernhardt, the great general of the Swedes ; 
Augusta, mother of George III. ; Friedrich Josias, Field 
Marshal of the Empire, an honor never conferred before, 
and but once since ; Ernest Augustus, who marriedAme- 
lia, the Princess of Brunswick, who was the v/ealthy and 
benevolent patron of Schiller and Goethe; Adelaide, who 
married Wilhelm IV. of Prussia ; Charles Friedrich, who 
married Paulowena, daughter of Paul, Emperor of Russia ; 



THE DUCAL FAMILY OF COBURG. 99 

Theresa, Queen of Bavaria ; Johanna, who married Con- 
stantine, Grand Duke of Russia; Ferdinand, Field Mar- 
shal in Austria, who married Antoinette, daughter of 
Francis Joseph, the father of the present Emperor of Aus- 
tria ; Victoria, who married in 1818, the son of George 
III. ; Leopold, who married the Princess Charlotte of 
Wales, afterwards King of Belgium, in 1834, he married 
Louisa, daughter of Louis Phillippe, King of France ; 
Ferdinand married in 1836, Donna Maria de Gloria, 
Queen of Portugal. From this hasty selection, which I 
have taken almost at random, from the long list of distin- 
guished members of this family, you have seen that this is 
not only a most celebrated family, but connected with 
nearly all the crowns of Europe. 

Take England first, as the one we are most interested 
in, because it is our mother country. Augusta of Coburg 
was the mother of George IIL; Leopold of Coburg mar- 
ried the Princess Charlotte of Wales, the daughter of 
George IH.; Victoria of Coburg married the Duke of Kent,, 
the son of George IIL; Albert, Prince of Coburg, married 
Victoria, the daughter of Victoria, Duchess of Kent, 
Next, take Germany. Adelaide married King William 
IV., of Prussia, brother of the present Emperor William ;.'^ 
Victoria, daughter of Albert, married the son of Emperor 
William, the Crown Prince of Germany, and will, on King 
William's death, be Empress of Germany. The present 
Duke of Coburg married the sister of the Grand Duke of 
Baden, who married the only daughter of King William. 
Take next Belgium, which lies between England and Ger- 
many. Leopold, after the death of Charlotte of Wales,. 
became King of Belgium, and his son is now king. Take 
France. Leopold's second wife was the daughter of Louis 
Phillippe, King of France, and Victoria was betrothed to 
his second son. Take Austria. Ferdinand, who held the 
distinguished position of Field Marshal of Austria, married 
the daughter of Francis Joseph, the sister of the present 
Emperor of Austria. Take Russia. Juliana married 
Constantine, the brother of Alexander, the Emperor of all 
the Russias, and Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, son of Albert, 
has now as his wife the daughter of Alexander, the Em- 



lOO EUROPEAN NOTES. 

peror who was slain by the Nihilists. Theresa married the 
King of Bavaria. Take Sweden. While I was in Coburg, 
the niece of the Duke and Duchess and granddaughter of 
King William, married the Crown Prince of Sweden. 
Take Portugal. Ferdinand, in 1836, married Donna Ma- 
ria, Queen of Portugal, so the Coburg house is also upon 
that throne, and the Queen became the mother of Don 
Pedro, the present Emperor of Brazil, so that this renowned 
Coburg house of " petty German princes, "after compassing 
all the thrones of Europe, crossed the seas, and ascended 
the only throne that the vast continent of America could 
offer. Notwithstanding all this, it must be confessed that 
Saxc-Coburg Gotha is not much larger than one of our 
counties. I said to the duke on a cert 'in occasion: "You 
certainly have a most attractive and beautiful duchy." 
"Yes, "said he, "but it is very small, very small." But while it 
is small, it has been richer in magnificent princes than any 
other spot of equal size in the whole world. France and 
Spain have both sought frequently to form alliances with 
this house, but their offers were declined, because they 
were Roman Catholics in their religion, and this family 
has been for centuries the unswerving advocate of Protes- 
tantism. One member of the family protected Luther, 
another signed the Augsburg Confession, another, Ernest, 
the Pious, instrumentaliy saved the cause from ruin in 
1600. But why, it may be asked, have these princes and 
princesses been so sought after ? First, they have ever been 
magnificent specimens of manhood and womanhood. 
Whethei the soil and climate of the beautiful Thuringia 
Mountains, where they have lived for centuries, have 
tended to produce such physical and intellectual develop- 
ment, I cannot say, but certain it is, they possess it in a high 
degree. The magnificent family pictures, by eminent 
masters, to be seen in Coburg, all evidence this. Second, 
I think their Protestantism had something to do with their 
development. Had they been fettered by Pa[)al supersti 
tion, both minds and bodies would have been dwarfed ; 
but imbibing the free principles of Martin Luther, they 
grew and expanded under them like plants exposed to the 
warm, genial sun. Third, another thing that made them 



THE DUCAL FAMILY OF CDBURG. I©t 

what they were, was their thorough training, first, in the 
Gymnasium, then in the University, then under careful 
and painstaking guides, and traveling extensively. They 
were trained to be rulers among men. The fourth thing 
that caused them to be sought after, was the careful man- 
ner in which they preserved in all their matrimonial 
alliances the purity and excellence of their blood. 

But the "censurers" not only represented Albert as a 
petty German Prince, but they also said that he was 3.poor 
Prince. The best answer I can give to this, is to describe 
from actual observation a real petty German prince as I 
found one at Coburg, Germany, in the person of Ernest, 
the elder bpt)ther, the reigning duke of SaxeCoburg 
Gotha, and the inheritor of the ducal estates. The duke is 
now a little over sixty years of age, tall, square built, ele- 
gantly proportioned, in a word, a fine specimen of a man. 
Being but a year or two older than Albert, the two prin- 
ces were educated together; first, in the Gymnasium at 
Coburg, then in the University at Bonn. Endowed by 
nature with a strong and brilliant mind, he has improved 
it by study and travel until he is, in the highest sense of 
the word, accomplished. He speaks several languages 
fluently and is peculiarly facile in English and French, 
and, of course, in his own elegant German. His wife, the 
reigning duchess, one of the purest and best ladies, as I 
have said, I ever saw, is a sister of the Grand Duke of 
Baden, the son in-law of Emperor William. The duke 
resides half the year at Gotha, a town of 22,000, and half 
the year at Coburg, a town of 20,000. Gotha and Coburg 
being the capitals of the respective duchies that are unit- 
ed under one government, though the two duchies are 
separated by Meiningen. Of course, my observation of 
the duke has been principally in Coburg, though 1 have 
visited Gotha. In this little city of Coburg, situated on 
the border of the Thuringian Mountains, the duke has 
no less than four palaces, and one magnificent castle. 
His chief residence is the large, modern villa or small 
palace in the "Hof Garten," which park is one of the finest 
in Europe. It is beautifully terraced and walled up on 
some of its sides with the most ponderous and artistic 



102 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

masonry. It is laid off in graded walks, and shaded by 
magnificent trees, set out in rows, the growth of centuries. 
It contains also much choice shrubbery and is ornamented 
at different parts with statues and chapels, one of them 
being the costly mausoleum of two members of the ducal 
family. Between the walks, to which the pedestrian is 
strictly confined, are lawns of the greenest and most in- 
viting grass, with ever and anon a bed of charming 
flowers. On this, the "Hof Garten" palace fronts. The 
building itself is in the modern style, with many bay win- 
dows, conservatories and verandas, the whole being 
surmounted by several unique towers. The residence is 
furnished in the most superb style, with th^ most costly 
paintings decorating the walls. On the left is the ducal 
flower garden under cover, composed of the most choice, 
expensive and beautiful indigenous and exotic varieties. 

The second palace, called the Residence Schloss, is 
the celebrated Ehrenburg, situated in the heart of the 
city, which has been occupied by the dukes from the time 
of John Ernest down to the time of the present reigning 
duke. It was originally built for a monastery, but at great 
expense it has been remodeled and enlarged until it is 
justly regarded one of the finest palaces in Europe. It is 
situated in the middle of a beautiful garden, with lovely 
walks and flowers, in one part of which stands a splendid 
statue, erected by the present duke to the memory of his 
father; while near by is a fine, large statue of Prince Al- 
bert, unveiled in the presence of Victoria, in 1865. This 
palace is three stories high, with a court in the centre, 
and contains one hundred rooms, all of which, from top to 
bottom, are furnished in the miost royal style. The walls 
are painted in the highest style of the art, some of the 
ceilings containing the master-pieces of Rubens, and others 
being wrought into the most beautiful bas-reliefs. In the 
different corners stand statues, or busts, out of purest Pa- 
rian marble, and by the greatest masters, of different 
members of the ducal family, including, of course, those 
of Victoria and Albert and their children. The walls are 
hung with paintings by the best ancient and modern 
masters, consisting either of family portraits or scenes 



THE DUCAL FAMILY OF COBURG. IO3 

and incidents in tKe lives of the Coburg family. The 
floors are all inlaid with the most costly and beautiful 
woods, and waxed until it is difficult for the unpracticed 
to maintain an erect posture upon them. 

While it would be useless to attempt to describe all the 
apartments in this monster edifice, some of the rooms are 
worthy of special mention. The reception room at the 
head of the gilded stairway, with ascent so gradual as not 
to be perceptible, has a huge mirror covering nearly 
the whole of one side, and the largest and finest Reforma- 
tion painting I have seen, containing life-size figures of 
Luther and his brother reformers. The duke's audience 
room is a marvel of beauty and elegance, the furniture 
being of the richest damask and gold, the niches ornament, 
ed with marble busts, and on the walls magnificent paint- 
ings of the Crown Prince and Princess of Germany, neph. 
ew and niece of the duke, and also, a large full length mil- 
itary equestrian picture of the duke as he appeared in one 
of the battles of the Franco-Prussian war. There are, in 
this room, some valuable vases of eminent size and artistic 
designs of great beauty. The drawing-room, as might be 
supposed, is furnished in the grandest style, the ceilings 
being decorated with paintings by Rubens. The dining 
saloon is of immense size, with paintings, and bas-reliefs 
well calculated to stimulate one's appetite, and will seat 
comfortably three hundred persons. It was in this room, 
in 1839, ^hat the proposed marriage of Albert with Victo- 
ria was, according to royal custom, formally announced in 
the presence of most of the crowned heads of Europe. 
On that occasion, at the request of the prince, the palace 
was thrown open to the public, and the people invited to 
come in and gaze on the august ceremonies. The ball 
room is about the size of an ordinary theatre, with appro- 
priate decorations, prominent among which are about one 
hundred caryatids as light bearers. In one corner of the 
immense hall stands a great musical clock, which for cent- 
uries has been regaling the ear of royalty with its bewitch- 
ing tones, and performs as perfectly to-day as it did three 
hundred years ago. Under the inspiration of the music, 
the weird appearance of the fun-provoking statues and bas- 



104 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

reliefs, the smiling faces of beauty that look down from 
the canvas, the luxurious folds of the royal tapestry that 
everywhere gracefully adorns windows and recesses, and 
the marvelously inlaid and waxed floors, one can gain an 
idea of the pleasures of royalty not everywhere to be found; 
for, through long centuries, kings and queens, dukes and 
duchesses, barons and baronesses, have moved over this 
floor in the giddy excitement of the dance, lost to every- 
thing but the intoxication of the present moment. 

Near this ball room is a magnificent suite of rooms, 
known as Queen Victoria's apartments, because on her 
repeated visits to Coburg, with one exception, she has 
always occupied them. They are furnished in a style that 
would not suffer even in comparison with Windsor. It 
could but interest an American to be told : "This is the 
furniture used by the Queen, this the bed in which she 
slept, this the bowl and pitcher she used, this her writing 
desk, with her writing materials just as she left them.'' 
The duke has an ofUce in one wing, and the duchess one 
near by, all furnished in the most appropriate manner. 
While he is the owner of this magnificent palace with its 
furniture, its paintings, its plate, he makes no use of it, 
except to give audience to distinguished persons, attend 
to a few duties occasionally in his office, and to give an 
annual ball or concert to the titled people of his duchy. 

I had the honor of attending one of these, in company 
with my wife, which for the very novelty, was intensely 
interesting. When our -invitation came it was on a printed 
card, which prescribed our costumes and equipage, with 
all the particulars of the entrance into the great palace. 
Promptly at eight o'clock we landed at the palace door, 
where we were met by liveried attendants and escorted to 
the reception or cloak room. From this place we were 
ushered into the grand ducal apartments, which I have 
already described as his audience-room and drawing rooms. 
Being five minutes late, the guests were nearly all assem- 
bled, and those we did not know we were presented to. 
There were barons, counts, and every form of German 
nobility with the foreign representatives of other govern- 
ments, to the number of about one hundred persons. In 



THE DUCAL FAMILY OF COBURG. 10$ 

a few moments a double line was apparently involuntarily- 
formed, and the duke, with the duchess on his arm, 
entered and passed nearly the whole length of this avenue, 
bowing to the right and left. All then mingled together 
freely, the duke and duchess making it a point to converse 
with each one of their guests. As I was standing near 
their highnesses when the entrance ceremony was over, 
I was the first one to be approached and addressed, for 
which kindness I felt especially grateful. In the course 
of an hour supper was served, the ladies sitting, the gen- 
tlemen standing. Formerly it had been the custom for 
all to sup in the great dining saloon, but a contention 
arising among the nobility as to who should go in first 
in the order of precedence, the duke had arranged that 
supper should be handed. The duke was dressed in the 
full uniform he wore during the war of '70, and the duch- 
ess wore the most bewildering costume of silks that 
glittered all over with diamonds. Indeed, the world 
seldom witnesses such toilets as I saw there that night. 
No lady was permitted to be present who did not wear 
silk, velvet or satin, and the gentlemen were compelled to 
appear, if not officers in uniform, in black dress suits of 
the most fashionable cut, with white kid gloves, vests and 
cravats. 

Soon after supper, the guests were ushered into a large 
saloon, where the duke had assembled some of the finest 
performers of Europe, consisting of violinists, pianists 
and solo singers, and we were regaled by the finest music 
I ever heard. One of the performers was a prima donna 
who was about to sail for America to make her appearance 
in New York, and I heard that the duke paid her $500 to 
perform that night. Between the pieces, the guests min- 
gled together in free conversation and it was during one 
of these intervals I had a most delightful conversation 
with the duchess, who gave me an invitation to her palace, 
Callenberg, of which I shall presently speak. About 
twelve o'clock, after an evening of rich enjoyment, their 
highnesses, amid the absorbed attention and profound 
silence of the guests, made their bows and retired, when 
we, too, re-entered our carriage and returned home. So 
much for Ehrenburg. 



I06 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Callenberg, another estate of the duke, is a suburban 
palace where the duchess resides most of the time, es- 
pecially when the duke is absent on his hunting or travel- 
ing excursions. It is situated on one of the highest hills 
around Coburg, and can be seen from almost any point 
of view, with its lofty turrets and glittering banners. 

It is without doubt one of the finest ducal residences 
in Germany, possessing in a peculiar degree an air of com- 
fort and magnificence. It is furnished in accordance with 
the most refined taste, with unlimited means at its dispo- 
sal. While not as large as Ehrenburg, it is more modern, 
and for the quiet tastes of the duchess, more desirable. 
In connection with Callenberg, the duke has two large 
and beautiful model farms, that are as well kept as a gar- 
den, and produce abundant supplies of every kind for the 
ducal table, and thousands of dollars' worth of products 
besides, that are thrown upon the market. Such horses, 
such cows, such hogs, such milk, such butter (and the milk 
and butter used on my table came from there), I have 
never seen. Not far from the palace is the Fasanerie, or 
zoological garden, which is certainly a marvelous collec- 
tion of birds and many animals. The duke is much 
attached to Callenberg, and has some valuable hunting 
grounds near by. Another palace of the duke, situated 
in the suburbs about two miles distant, is Rosenau. This is 
more properly called a chateau, situated, as its name implies, 
in the midst of a meadow of roses. The walks and flower 
beds are as pretty as those of Versailles. It was the sum- 
mer residence of the duke's father, and the birth place of 
Prince Albert, August 26, 1819, and, as might be imagined, 
it is large, elegant, beautiful and tastefully fitted up. In 
1845, Queen Victoria spent two weeks in this house, on her 
visit to Coburg. ' We were shown the apartments she 
occupied, all furnished just as she left them. We were 
shown the family pictures, household articles, heirlooms, 
etc., and also the font in which Albert was baptized, and 
his writing-desk, with his portfolio and pens, and scraps 
of paper on which he had written. Rosenau is a lovely 
place, but though thoroughly furnished and kept in first- 
class condition at an enormous expense, is never occupied 



THE DUCAL FAMILY OF COBURG. IO7 

except on some grand occasion when its accommodations 
are needed ; as, for instance, on the occasion of the recent 
visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to Coburg. 

Leaving the palace, I now come to speak briefly of Co- 
burg Castle, also the property of the duke. This castle is 
situated at the end of the " Hof Garten," in an opposite 
direction from the residence palace which I first described, 
on a commanding hill 557 feet above the town and 1638 
feet above the sea level. The views from this castle are 
among the most extensive and picturesque in Germany. 
This castle, one of the largest, strongest and most com- 
plete in Europe, was the residence of the Saxon dukes 
until John Ernest transferred his seat to Ehrenburg in 
1549. At the time of the Diet at Augsburg, Luther 
resided here for three months, translated the prophets and 
psalms, and wrote 119 letters. In 1632, the fortress was 
occupied by the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus, and 
besieged in vain by Wallenstein. It is a late Gothic struc- 
ture of the close of the 1 5th century, and has been, by the 
present duke, restored and fitted up as a museum. The 
wall of the staircase is adorned with frescoes by Schneider 
and Rothbard, representing the nuptials of Duke John 
Casimer with the Princess Anna of Saxony, 1585. 

We next enter the carriage room, containing curious and 
costly old state coaches, sleighs, saddles, harness, etc. The 
vestibule of the armory contains a piece by Schneider 
representing two bears breaking into the ducal dining hall, 
a ducal guest endeavoring to shoot the animals, but a 
princess appeases them by offering them something to eat. 
The scene is said to have actually occurred, and in com- 
memoration of it bears have been kept in a den near by 
ever since. Luther's room remains unchanged, and contains 
his bed, chair, relivS of the time in which he lived, and a 
complete collection of his writings. The spacious armory 
contains a large iron stove cast in 1430, adorned with coats 
of arms and figures of saints, also collections of armor, 
shields, helmets, coats of mail, etc., among which I noticed 
the weapons of the Anabaptists, used in the great peasant 
war. The walls of the upper room are adorned with full- 
length portraits of Tilly, Gustavus Adolphus, Wallenstein 



I08 EUROPEAN NOTES, 

and John Casimer. Therosetteroom, the ceiling of which 
is adorned with 365 rosettes of different forms, with por- 
traits of the landgraves of Thuringia, contains a number 
of beautiful goblets of ancient times, among them one 
presented by Gustavus Adolphus. The " Betsaal " con- 
tains sculptures in wood from the life of the Virgin, a Bi- 
ble by Hans Luft, printed in 1550, another printed at 
Frankfurt in 1572, and a parchment MS. of the nth cen- 
tury, with finely carved ivory binding. The Reformation 
room contains a painting of the Diet of Augsburg, portraits 
of Luther, his wife, Melancthon, and other eminent re- 
formers. On a column are the arms of the sixteen German 
towns that first embraced the Reformed faith. The Horn 
room, a masterpiece of the Renaissance period, is adorned 
with Mosaics in wood, representing hunting scenes during 
the reign of John Casimer, executed in 1600. The south- 
west wing contains the valuable natural history cabinet 
founded by Prince Albert and the reigning duke of 
Coburg, and comprising a complete collection of the birds 
of Europe. The north wing contains a collection of en- 
gravings and drawings, including some fine early German 
specimens, said to be the best collection in Europe. Lu- 
ther's cannon, which is preserved here, cast in Frankfurt 
in 1570, is artistically adorned with reliefs in allusion to 
the theological controversies of the day. 

After what I have said, and when it is remembered that 
all these palaces with their vast treasuries are the property 
of the duke, you are ready to think that such a ''petty 
German prince" is not a very small character. What will 
you think then when I say that these do not embrace one- 
half of his possessions? 

Coburg is only one-half of his duchy, Gotha being the 
other, where he resides half his time in as much style and 
with as brilliant surroundings as in Coburg. The ducal 
palace at Gotha is quite equal to the Ehrenburg, and 
adorned with more celebrated paintings. In addition 
there is the old palace of Friedenstein, the largest in 
Germany, which has been the residence of the Saxon 
dukes for centuries past. The situation commanding the 
finest view of the Thuringia mountains, has been com- 



THE DUCAL FAMILY OF COBURG. IO9 

pared to Windsor Castle. The magnificent scientific and 
literary collections of this palace owe their existence to 
Ernest the Pious, in 1600, whose successors, by continued 
augmentations, have rendered them such as few great 
States can boast. The library numbers over 200,000 vol- 
umes, containing many of the oldest and most valuable 
works in existence. Among them is a copy of the oldest 
Bible in the world. There are about two thousand MSS. 
of classical authors, and others connected with Ger- 
man literature, and between two and three thousand 
Oriental MSS., Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Syriac, and He- 
braic. The catalogue has been systematically arranged 
in 48 volumes folio, in addition to which there is an alpha- 
betical catalogue. Among the most remarkable of these 
MSS. are the following: 171 sheets, small folio of Psalms 
in Greek, embellished with initials of the 7th century, 
which formerly belonged to the Monastery of Marborbin 
Alsace ; (2) Evangelarium on parchment, Greek of the 
nth century, obtained by Frederic the Wise on his jour- 
ney to Jerusalem in 1493; (3) Four Gospels, written 
about the end of the 6th century ; (4) Four Gospels 
of the iith century, with gold initials, and illumina- 
ted with paintings. It was the book Luther used, who 
wrote many marginal notes. On a page appended to it is 
written : "Anno \'i^22fundit Martinis LutJier Jmnc librumr 
(5) Breviarium. This is one of the chef d'oeuvres of its 
kind. It is most exquisitely written on fine silky parch- 
ment of unborn lambs. It was brought from the Neth- 
erlands by a son of Ernest the Pious. It was used by 
Charles V. This Breviary is so magnificent that a de- 
scription of its contents takes up alone a volume. It is 
valued at $15,000. (6) Breviarium given by Augusta, 
daughter of Frederic 2d., of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, and 
mother of George 3d, of England, (7) Preces, with 
eighty-three paintings and magnificent embellishments by 
John and Herbert Von Eyck. (8) Valuable collection of 
autographs, letters, etc., of Luther, (the first part of a 
marmscript translation of the prophet Jeremiah, in Luth- 
er's own handwriting) of Calvin, Zuinglius, Melancthon, 
Beza, Peter the Great, and Henry the Eighth ; about two 



no EUROPEAN NOTES. 

hundred letters of Voltaire to Dorothea, wife of Frederic 
3d, and about 68 letters of Frederic the Great ; MSS. of 
the Arabian Nights, ^sop's Fables, Cicero d'Officio and 
de Amicitia ; Juvenal's satires, Virgil's works, Caesar's 
Commentaries, and several other rare volumes. 

The cabinet of coins attached to the library is one of 
the finest in Germany and ranks next to Vienna. The 
collection of Roman coins is most perfect, a part of them 
costing $80,000. The present duke's father added a com 
plete collection of all the modern coins of Europe. 

It would be quite impossible to describe all the exqui- 
site gems and works of art to be found in the cabinet of 
antiquities: can only mention a few. A large square 
onyx with Jupiter and Juno, valued at $15,000. A bust 
of Louis 14th in amethyst. A small figure of Confucius, 
worth $2,000. A small album, the case of which is in 
carved ivory, containing the autographs of kings, promi- 
nent among which is that of James ist, of England. A 
great sardonyx with head of Medora ; exquisite jugs, cups, 
hunting horns, in ivory,with most delicate chiselling by Cel- 
lini ; bas-reliefs in boxwood by Albert Durer, — Adam and 
Eve in Paradise, Christ and the Apostles, a series repre- 
senting the life of Christ, etc. The cabinet in the loggie 
contains the ducal sixver plate. 

On the terrace south of the palace rises the new muse- 
um, built in 1879 by Neumann, of Vienna, which contains 
the collection formerly in the Friedenstein palace. On 
the ground floor is a magnificent collection of casts of an- 
cient and modern sculpture. On the first floor is the nat- 
ural history cabinet, which includes 17,500 varieties of 
shells and butterflies. The second floor is devoted to 
the picture gallery, where all the great masters are repre- 
sented, including some of the finest works of Vandyck, 
Rembrandt, Rubens, Holbein, Cranach, Tintoretto, Ver- 
net, Velasquez, and a drawing by Michael Angelo. The 
outer rooms contain the cabinet of engravings, 50,000 in 
number, among them the drawing of an entombment by 
Raphael. 

Not very far from the residence palace of the duke are 
the ducal stables, quite as extensive as those in Coburg, 



THE DUCAL FAMILY OF COBURG. Ill 

with magnificent horses, and a countless number and 
variety of splendid vehicles In addition to these splen- 
did establishments, the duke has a tastefully fitted up 
hunting seat at Reinhardtsbrunnen in Thuringia, also 
three in Tyrol ; a winter palace at Nice, where he spends 
two months of the year, and two model country seats and 
farms in Hungary, and yet another on the banks of the 
"beautiful, blue Danube." After this glance at his pos- 
sessions, you would perhaps like to hear something of the 
mode of living of this "petty German prince." Well, I 
will state first that he has not much hard work to do, 
having both at Gotha and Coburg a complete cabinet of 
counsellors and officers who attend to all the business of 
the respective duchies. All that he has to do is to cast 
an occasional vote as one of the sovereigns of Germany, 
and perhaps sign his name to a commission appointing 
some one as a counsellor or "rath,'' as they are called. As 
you may well imagine, he lives like a prince, having all 
that heart could wish or money buy of this world's goods. 
I had the honor of being invited to a dinner with him in 
company with my wife, a compliment which he usually 
pays to the American consul at Coburg. Costumes and 
equipage were again prescribed. The palace in the Hof 
Garten was'the place and four o'clock the hour but expected 
15 minutes to four. We were on hand promptly. Met by 
liveried servants and escorted first to the cloak room, then 
to the reception room, where we met the guests, only 
eight in number. A baron and baroness were the masters 
of ceremony. Soon the duke and duchess entered and 
chatted with us familiarly till dinner was announced, when 
we were ushered into the most gorgeous dining room and 
sat down to the most gorgeous dinner I ever saw. The 
table was decorated with flowers and fruits, and the ser- 
vice was of solid silver and gold. There were fifteen 
courses and a different wine with each course, and two 
liveried waiters for each guest. The conversation was 
confined to English, which their highnesses spoke appar- 
ently with as much ease as German. We were at the 
table over two hours, after which having exchanged 
greetings, their highnesses withdrew and the guests re- 



112 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

entered their carriages and departed for their homes. 
The whole entertainment, apart from the court ceremo- 
nies, was as free, easy and enjoyable as a h'ke gathering 
in America, The duke is a thorough man of pleasure, 
devoted to it heart and soul. He is specially fond of 
music and composes and plays well himself. During my 
stay at Kissingen the leader of the band was the duke's 
capellemeister, and he often regaled the visitors with 
compositions of his highness. He has written several 
operas that have been produced on the stage. This is 
also true of his brother, Prince Albert, whose musical 
works, I learn, have been collected, edited, and are soon 
to be published in England. The duke is also very fond 
of the drama, owning two magnificent theatres, one in 
Coburg, and one in Gotha, and pays his own performers 
at an enormous expense, in this respect following the 
steps of his father, who paid $80,000 per annum for these 
amusements. One of the duke's operas was played at the 
Coburg theatre during my residence there, though I did 
not witness it. On one occasion, I was told, he appeared 
himself in the leading character, but permitted no one to 
attend but invited guests, who had to come in court 
dress. 

He is likewise very fond of hunting, and has parts of 
the Thuringia mountains splendidly kept as ranges for 
deer and wild boars for his own amusement. He also 
hunts much in Tyrol, and is said to be a magnificent shot. 
In the museum at Gotha are kept stuffed with straw many 
of the animals he has slain, and a register showing how 
many have fallen victims to his skill. Up to date he had 
killed 39,000 hares, which grow very large there, and are a 
great delicacy, 8,000 bucks and 1,000 stags. The ducal 
hunts are grand occasions. He usually invites other 
dukes or nobles to hunt with him, and has the game flushed 
or driven by experienced men, and then they shoot, kill- 
ing from five to ten boars and five to ten deer per day. 
He has also a district specially reserved for pheasant 
shooting. 

He travels much, and always with great display having 
a special car fitted up in palatial style. I was at the 



THE DUCAL FAMILY OF COBURG. II3 

depot one evening when he arrived, and he was met 
by a coach with four beautiful blood bays for himself 
and a coach with four for his baggage. All Coburg can 
tell when he comes, by the extra flurry and excitement 
occasioned by his extensive equipage, as he has twenty- 
eight carriages that are all the time kept going. 

And now, perhaps, you would like to know what the in- 
come of such a man is. I remark that he gets from 
his private fortune $300,000 per annum, and from the 
revenues of the duchy $150,000, making a snug little sala- 
ry of $450,000 per annum. Notwithstanding all this 
magnificence, he is a kind, amiable, gentle, modest gen- 
tleman. In conclusion let me say, the following is the 
order of German nobility, beginning at the bottom of the 
rank. First come the vons, of whom the name is legion, 
next the barons, then the counts, then the princes, next 
the dukes, then the grand dukes, then the crown princes, 
then the kings, and last the emperors. 

I have mingled freely with all classes up to the dukes 
and have caught some glimpses of the kings and emperors,, 
having gone through the Emperor William's palace at 
Potsdam, and also at Berlin, but I have seen nothing 
that gave me higher ideas of nobility and royalty than 
this "petty German prince," and when we remember that 
Prince Albert was his superior in every respect, the wis- 
dom of Victoria's choice is confirmed, and I conclude, 
like the London auctioneer, with the exclamation, "God. 
save the Queen." 



CHAPTER V. 



THE HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 

The American tourist in Europe, especially if he be a 
minister of the Gospel, desires above all things to visit 
Germany. To him the fatherland is full of interest. It 
is a land full of historic and legendary lore ; the land from 
which we originally derived one half of our language; the 
land of books, scholars and theologians ; the land of great 
and incomparable Universities; and the land where, in 
the i6th century, occurred the mightiest religious revolu- 
tion the world has ever known ; from which dates the 
freedom of the church from Papal superstition and op- 
pression ; and when first began to dawn the light of that 
religious liberty which now shines so beneficently in this 
land of free institutions. I confess that in going to Eu- 
rope one of my chief objects was to learn more of that 
.great and unique character, who was, under God, the 
leading and controlling spirit of the Reformation, and 
the central figure of all that moved upon that field of 
religious controversy. When it was announced that I had 
been appointed by the President United States Consul to 
Sonneberg. I knew not where the place was, for Sonne- 
berg was to me then a tei'ra incognita. All I could learn 
by looking at maps and encyclopedias was that it was a 
commercial town, the seat of a large consular district, sit- 
uated in the heart of Germany, from which about two 
millions of dollars' worth of manufactures were shipped 
annually to theJJnited States. Imagine my surprise and 
delight, then, on reaching Sonneberg, after a journey of 
four weeks across the ocean and the continent, to find 
that it was located in the very cradle of the Reformation, 
and in the midst of scenes and places made forever memo- 



THE HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. II5 

rable by the footsteps of Martin Luther. At Sonneberg 
was a house where he once sojourned ; at Coburg, twelve 
miles distant, where I lived, was the castle where he was 
confined during the session of the Diet at Augsburg; at 
Schmalkalden, twenty miles distant, was the house where 
he drew up the Articles of the Protestant League in op- 
position to the combined forces of Rome and the empire 
of Germany ; at Eisenach, four miles distant, was the 
famous Wartburg, where he was once confined on his 
return from the Diet at Worms ; at Erfurt was the Uni- 
versity where he graduated, and the monastery in which 
he was made a monk ; at Wittenberg was the University 
where he was a learned professor, and the house where 
he lived during the many years he remained there ; at 
Eisleben was the spot where he was born, and the house 
where he died; all these places being embraced in the 
consular district of Sonneberg. Thinking that what was 
of so much interest to me would interest nry friends on my 
return, I took notes of what I saw and reproduce them in 
this chapter on The Homes and Haunts of Martin Luther. 
I have mentioned these places in the order in which I saw 
them, but in treating of them more particularly, I name 
them in the chronological order in which they were in- 
habited by the great Reformer. 

First, taking the cars at Halle, on the main line from 
Frankfort to Berlin, after a ride of twenty miles through 
a picturesque and beautiful country, we came in sight of 
an old German city of 14,000 inhabitants, with its narrow 
streets, dingy-looking, many-storied buildings, and with 
its lofty church towers, situated in the midst of hills, 
where the winds, coming down from adjacent mountains, 
are so piercing that they quickly suggest the appropriate- 
ness of the name of the place. It is Eisleben (or ice-life, 
as the word means), important in many respects, but chief- 
ly important because here, on the loth of November, 1483, 
Martin Luther was born. Of course, the tourist wishes 
to see the spot, which is near the present post-office. The 
house, now a school for poor children, contains many rem- 
iniscences of the great Reformer, of whom there is a relief 
above the door. The Andnoskirche contains the pulpit 



Il6 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

from which he preached, and busts of Luther and Melanc- 
thon. Opposite the church is the house in which Luther 
died, marked by a tablet. The church of St. Peter and 
St. Paul contains the font in which Luther was baptized, 
a fragment of his cloak, and a leathern skull cap. So 
much for the relics, but there are several circumstances 
connected with his birth, of interest. First, as to his 
name; he is universally known in Germany as Luter, in 
England and America as Luther, but he spelled his name 
in different ways — Luther, Ludher, and sometimes Loth- 
er. His father, Johannes, Hans, or John Luther, was a 
miner of a village called Mohrer, near Eisenach, where 
three or four families by the name of Luther still live, 
bearing a striking resemblance, it is thought, to the Re- 
former. Two stories are related as to how Luther's father 
came to go to Eisleben. One is, that he killed a man 
whom he found trespassing on a field of his with some 
cattle, and fled to Eisleben for safety. Another is, that 
he went there to buy provisions at a great fair held in con- 
nection with the feast of St. Martin, and the child being 
born the next day, was called Martin in honor of the saint. 
Various theories have been circulated by the superstitious 
Papists as to the birth of Luther,- whom they style the 
grand Heresiarch. Cholcaeus, in his hostile life of the 
Reformer, gravely asserts that he was the son of a mon- 
ster. An Italian, Cajetano, in his poem called Thuendos, 
says Martin Luther was born of Magaera, one of the fu- 
ries, and sent express from hell to Germany ! The Pa- 
pists generally reckoned him the beast of the Apocalypse, 
and have seriously endeavored to discover in his name the 
famous mystical number, 666. Luther was the son of a 
peasant, as he himself says, "I am the son of a peasant — 
my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather were all 
peasants." To have been a peasant in those days must 
have been terrible, for the peasants with which Germany 
swarms to-day are the lowest of the low, and in those days 
of feudal oppression their lot was harder still. His moth- 
er was also a peasant, and the peasant women of the 
mountains of Germany where Luther was born are the 
poorest, the hardest-worked, and, I may add, the ugliest 



THE HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 11/ 

creatures, I ever saw in my life, their condition being 
worse than that of the former female slaves of our South- 
ern plantations. The men are generally indolent beer- 
guzziers, while the poor women have to live lives of the ut- 
most drudgery, tilling the fields, minding the stock, and 
plying all kinds of handicraft. The streets of all the 
towns, as well as the roads, are crowded with the poor 
creatures with huge baskets filled and strapped to their 
backs, trudging along in all sorts of weather. Often have 
I seen one of these women with a great basket filled with 
some heavy wares on her back, while the husband walked 
leisurely by her side smoking his pipe. A friend told me 
he once saw a cart drawn by a dog on one side of the 
tongue, a woman on the other, while the man was lying 
flat on his back in the vehicle smoking his pipe. 

Though Martin's parents were poor peasants, and very 
poor, they did not neglect the education of their children. 
O what a land for schools Germany is ! When the schools 
are turned out any day during the week, the streets and 
woods are crowded with little people like the May-day 
celebrations in America. The little companions of my 
children could speak English like natives, and also French. 
Even waiters in the hotels and boarding-houses generally 
speak two or three languages. Indeed, a waiter at one of 
the Berlin hotels speaks eleven languages. 

So we find the parents of Luther entering their son in 
the free school of Eisenach at a very early age, and this 
brings me to the second home of Luther, which he loved 
to speak of as "Eisenach, my own dear Eisenach." This 
town with 22,000 inhabitants, once the residence of the 
dukes of Saxe Eisenach, who became extinct in 1741, now 
belongs to the duchy of Weimar, and is situated in the 
prettiest part of the Thuringian mountains at the junction 
of the Werra with the Thuringian railway. It has long 
been distinguished for its fine schools, some of which were 
founded before and others in the time of Luther. I 
reached this place about four o'clock in the afternoon, the 
mellow sunlight revealing the place to fine advantage, 
while the celebrated Wartburg castle appeared on a com- 
manding hill in the distance. The first thing I saw on 



Il8 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

entering the waiting room was a booth where were sold 
photographs of the Luther family from the original paint- 
ings of his friend, Lucas Cranach, together with views of 
places in Eisenach connected with his history. In the 
"Luther-platz" is the "Luther-haus" where he is said to 
have lived with Frau Ursula Cotta, when attending school 
here in 1498. When he first entered the school he was a 
poor, friendless boy and had to gain his daily bread by 
singing before people's houses, as was the custom at that 
time with many poor students in Germany. It is from 
himself that we learn this circumstance: "Let no one in 
my presence," said he, "speak contemptuously of the poor 
fellows, who go from door to door singing and begging 
hrcdid propter Deum. I, myself, was once a poor mendi- 
cant seeking my bread at people's houses, particularly at 
Eisenach, my own dear Eisenach." After a while he ob- 
tained a more regular subsistence, and an asylum in this 
house of dame Ursula Cotta, who took compassion on the 
poor wandering boy. By the assistance of this charitable 
woman, he was enabled to study four years at Eisenach. 
In one of his works he records the goodness of his bene- 
factress in words glowing with emotion, and he was 
throughout life grateful in a more especial manner, to the 
whole sex for her sake. What an incentive have the pious, 
and especially pious ladies, in this noble example to succor 
those poor students who feel called of God to preach the 
Gospel, but have not the means to secure an education. 
The woman of the Bible who anointed our Saviour, did a 
comparatively small work, yet our Lord said, "She hath 
done what she could, and wheresoever this Gospel is 
preached in the whole world, this thing that she hatn done 
shall be told of as a memorial of her,'' And this deed of 
Ursula Cotta rendered her otherwise humble name and 
humble home immortal. Wheresoever the Reformation 
is known, and Luther honored, her name is spoken of with 
gratitude and affection; and pilgrims from distant lands 
pass by the palaces of dukes and kings, and reverently 
pause and gaze upon the humble house where once: dwelt 
Ursula Cotta, and her afterwards illustrious /'r6'/^^<^ 
From Eisenach Luther went to Erfurt, the third home 



THE HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. II9 

in this narrative, and entered the University there where 
his father, in better circumstances, managed to support 
him. Erfurt is a very ancient town of 55,000 inhabitants, 
situated on the Thuringian railway about midway between 
Eisenach and Leipsic. It existed in the form of a forti- 
fied agricultural settlement as early as the time of St. 
Boniface, the English Apostle of this district. It after- 
wards belonged to the Hanseatic League of free towns, and 
reached the height of its prosperity about 1500 or the 
time of Luther, when it contained 80,000 inhabitants. 
This quaint old town possesses several handsome Gothic 
churches and private dwelling houses of the 15th and 17th 
centuries. The University which Luther now entered, 
founded in 1392, and suppressed in 18 16, was one of the 
chief seats of learning at the time of the Reformation. On 
the register of the University, still preserved, under the 
year 1501 appears the name of Martin Luther, ex Mans- 
field; under the year 1502 appears the entry, "Martin 
Luther, Bac. of Philosophy." 

German Universities have a reputation all over the 
world, and when we remember how long they have been 
in existence and what vast sums have been expended upon 
them, we cannot wonder that their halls are sought by 
students from every land. The University at Leipsic, for 
example, has 160 professors and 3,000 students, and that 
at Berlin has 200 professors and 4,000 students. Luther 
made wonderful progress in his studies, became a thorough 
linguist, a magnificent belle lettres scholar, and a learned 
theologian. Printing having been conferred on the world 
by the instrumentality of Gutenberg, he became an om- 
nivorous reader, versed in all the learning of the times. 
Having received the degree of Master of Arts, he was 
equipped for his life work, which was at first designed to 
be the law, but in 1505 an accident occurred which gave 
to his career an entirely different direction. One of his 
friends was killed at his side by a stroke of lightning, and 
he was so frightened that he vowed to St. Anne that he 
would become a monk if he were spared. The danger 
passed, but he only delayed the fulfillment of his vow for 
a fortnight. On the 17th of July, 1505, after passing a 



I20 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

pleasant convivial evening with some friends, he entered 
the Augustine Monastery at Erfurt, taking with him noth- 
ing but his Plautus and his Virgil. 

This old monastery is still in existence, but now used 
as an orphan asylum. The cell of Luther is still shown, 
but all reminiscences of the reformer were destroyed by 
fire in 1862. Luther's monastic life was that of a thorough 
hermit. " If," said he, " Augustine went straight to heaven 
from the walls of an abbey, I ought to do so too. I fasted, 
I watched, I mortified, I practiced all the cenobite sever- 
ities till I absolutely made myself ill." His novitiate was 
one of peculiar hardness and trial. His superiors, who had 
perceived the somewhat haughty tendency of his mind, 
made him perform all kinds of menial services, such as 
sweeping the cells, opening and shutting doors, and beg- 
ging for the monastery with a huge sack strapped to his 
back. This they did, they said, with a view to humbling 
him. 

This is not the only time that attempts have been made 
to humble a minister by subjecting him to a hard lot. I 
once heard of a congregation in our own land, who per- 
mitted their pastor to go half-clothed and poorly fed, with 
a mere pittance of a salary, and when they were remon- 
strated with, said their motives were good, as they wished 
to keep their minister humble. Such treatment generally, 
however, has a contrary effect. Had Luther been more 
kindly dealt with, he might have remained longer a devout 
Catholic. As it was, he murmured not at these inflictions, 
but bore all, prompted by his solemn vows and sincere 
piety. About this time, on the recommendation of Dr. 
Staupitz, he was appointed professor of philosophy in the 
University of Wittenberg, and this brings us to the fourth 
home of the great Reformer. The prince's letter requiring 
him to come, was so urgent that he hardly had time to bid 
his friends good-bye. His portmanteau was a light affair, 
containing a coarse woolen robe, two Bibles, one Latin 
and one Greek, some ascetic books, and a small stock of 
linen. The senate of Wittenberg, on recommendation of 
Dr. Staupitz, made Luther turn preacher, and he preached 
by turns in the monastery, the royal chapel, and in the 



THE HOMES AKD HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 121 

collegiate church. He was at this time in the full matu- 
rity of his powers. His voice was fine, sonorous, clear, 
striking, his gesticulation emphatic and dignified. For 
the first time too, he presented the spectacle of a Christian 
orator, ceasing to quote the old masters of the schools, 
and drawing instead, his images from the inspired writers. 
When he had time he returned to his beloved theology, 
which he called the queen of sciences. He was soon ad- 
mitted Bachelor of Theology, and afterwards made Doctor 
of Divinity. The attraction which he gave to his chair 
caused students to flock to Wittenberg from all parts of 
Europe. 

As Wittenberg was the theatre of the greatest events 
of Luther's life, it may be interesting for you to go with 
me, as I recount the incidents of a visit I made to it soon 
after reaching Germany. It is situated sixty miles from 
Berlin, on the road from Berlin to Leipsic, and has 12,500 
inhabitants. Being widely known, and designated as one 
of the "cradles of the Reformation," it is a place of great 
resort, especially for English and American people. Leav- 
ing the depot, and passing through the Elster Gate near 
by, we enter the Koelligen street, on the left side ot which 
rises the Augusteum, erected in 1564, which is now a 
seminary for ministers. The court contains Luther's 
house, being part of the old Augustinian monastery, where 
brother Augustine took up his residence in 1508, when 
summoned from Erfurt as before related. At a later 
period, also, the house was occupied by the Reformer, 
and it was afterwards presented to him by his friend, the 
Elector of Saxony. Luther's room, containing a stove of 
colored tiles, a table, and a drinking goblet once used by 
him, is nearly in its original condition. In the picture 
saloon excellent portraits of Luther are kept for sale. A 
little further on is the house of Melancthon, that of the man 
who was Luther's most intimate, able and trusted friend, 
whose part in the Reformation, as is well known, was 
second only to that of Luther. In the neighboring mar- 
ket place, under a Gothic canopy, rises a large statue of 
Luther, designed by Schadow, and erected in 1821, bear- 
ing the inscription : 



122 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

"Ists Gottes werk so wirds bestehen, 
Ists manchen werk wirds untergehen." 

" If it be God's work, it will endure ; if man's work, it 
will perish." Further on is the Palace church, erected in 
1439, ori the doors of which Luther fixed his famous the- 
ses, which were burned in 1760, and replaced by metal 
doors, provided by Frederick William IV. in 1858, bearing 
the original Latin text of the theses. In th@ interior of 
the church are brazen slabs, with Latin inscriptions, which 
mark the graves of Luther and Melancthon. In the town 
church, which dates from the fourteenth century, Luther 
frequently preached ; and here, in 1522, the communion 
was, for the first time, administered in both kinds to the 
laity, a circumstance to which German Protestants attach 
great importance. The interior is embellished with beau- 
tiful paintings by Lucas Cranach, the most celebrated 
painter of that time in Germany, who was an intimate and 
devoted friend of Luther. One of these paintings repre- 
sents the great Reformer preaching. A new house in the 
Middle Street has a stone of the period of the Reforma- 
tion, built into it, bearing the characteristic inscription : 

" Gottes work und Luther's shrift 
1st des Papst und Calvin's gift." 

" God's work and Luther's pen 
To Pope and Calvin poison send." 

Near the station outside the Elster Gate is an oak, sur- 
rounded by a small garden, which is said to mark the spot 
where Luther publicly burnt the Pope's bull. This de- 
scription shows, what I have already afftrmed, that Witten- 
berg was the principal home of the great Reformer ; and 
while I cannot enlarge upon all the events memorialized 
here, yet there are four that require more than a passing 
note, as showing the true character of the Reformer, and 
giving at the same time a bird's-eye view of the Reforma- 
tion. 

The first is, his visit to Italy. Dr. Staupitz, after Luther 
had been in Wittenberg about two years, being compelled 
to be absent, charged his protege to visit the convents in 
his province, and this work made it necessary that he 



THE HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. I23 

should go to Italy on some business connected with the 
order. In all this, God seemed to be preparing him for 
the great work before him. He had been thoroughly ed- 
ucated, and had become a monk, then an overseer of the 
monasteries, by which he was made familiar with their 
abominations, and now he must go to Italy where Papal 
idolatry sat enthroned in her thousand temples, while its 
every altar smoked with perpetual incense. Italy is bad 
enough to-day when the Pope has been deprived of his tem- 
poral power, but at this time, the time of the Borgias, it was 
at the height of its wickedness and grandeur. The atheist 
priest arrogated to himself the powers of heaven, and pro- 
claimed himself the monarch of the universe, while count- 
less servile hosts surrounded him to do his impious bidding. 
Italy then, indeed, presented the appearance of a splendid 
drama, the scenery by Raphael and Michael Angelo, the 
poetry by the high-sounding Ariosto, and popes, cardinals, 
archbishops, bishops, monks and nuns the dramatis per- 
soncE, who received at once the plaudits and money of the 
deluded spectators. Luther, yet deluded, went full of 
zeal, hoping to confirm his faith in the Holy City and 
throw aside any uneasy doubt at the tomb of the apostles. 
He crossed the Alps, proceeded through the burning plains 
of Lombardy, was received at Milan in a marble convent, 
and from that visited one convent after another, or rather 
one palace after another, for they were all palaces, where 
he found the utmost good cheer and most sumptuous en- 
tertainment, and on venturing to observe that this was 
unbecoming the lowly life of a Christian, he came near 
losing his own life. Passing through Florence without stop- 
ping, he at last entered Rome. " On arriving," said he, 
" I fell on my knees, raised my hands to heaven, and ex- 
claimed, ' Hail, holy Rome, made holy by the holy- 
martyrs and by the blood which has been spilt here!' " 
In his fervor he hastened to view the sacred places, vis- 
ited the church of St. Calixtus, with its bones of 8,000 
martyrs, ascended on his knees the Scala Sancta, and 
caught a glimpse of the Pope riding on a v/hite horse, 
dressed in gorgeous uniform at the head of a procession 
of soldiers, carrying the Host in his hand. He saw all, 



124 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

believed all, but soon perceived that he was the only per- 
son who did believe. Christianity seemed totally forgotten 
in this capital of the Christian world. When he took 
refuge in the churches it was no better, the wicked priests 
hurrying through with the services in the most indecent 
and sacrilegious manner. The only thing to be done was 
to shake the dust from his feet and flee, which he did at 
the end of a fortnight, carrying back with him to Witten- 
berg the condemnation of Italy and the whole Roman 
Church. "I would not," said he afterwards, " I would not 
for a thousand florins have missed seeing Rome," (and he 
repeats these words three times). " I should have always 
felt an uneasy doubt whether I was not alter all doing in- 
justice to the Pope. As it is, I am quite satisfied on the 
point." 

The second event to which I referred is the publication of 
his theses. When Luther left Rome, disgusted as he was, 
it was with no purpose of publicly attacking the Pope. 
That had been tried a hundred years before by great and 
good men, and all to no purpose. Wickliffe, and John 
Huss, and Jerome of Prague, for daring to raise their 
voice against the monstrous Iniquity, had been tried, con- 
demned and burnt. And Luther had every reason to 
expect the same fate, should he open his mouth in oppo- 
sition to the prevailing wickedness. But many had 
arrived at that point that but little more could be borne, 
and a circumstance now occurred which caused the cup 
already full to overflow. They had stood the immoralities 
of monks and nuns with which all Germany swarmed, they 
had paid tax after tax for the erection of monasteries and 
churches, until a city no larger than Cologne had no less 
than three hundred. But the straw that was to break the 
back of the camel of submission was the sale of indulgen- 
ces, decreed by the Pope, Leo X., with a view of raising 
money to erect St. Peter's church according to the mag- 
nificent plans of Michael Angelo, with a view to perpetu- 
ate his name to posterity. It had been customary for the 
people to go to Rome to secure indulgences, but now they 
are to remain at home and be waited on by an agent with 
the indulgences ready signed, which all could buy who 



THE HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER, 1 25 

had sufficient money. These indulgences granted exemp- 
tion from all sins the buyer ever had committed, or might 
intend to commit, and exempted also from the fires of 
purgatory. In Germany, one Tetzel, a Dominican friar, 
a man of great learning, but infamous character, was 
selected by the papal nuncio as a fit person to conduct 
the traf^c. He entered each town with great pomp, 
amidst the ringing of bells, the sound of music and the 
fluttering of banners, accompanied by the clergy, the 
different orders of monks and nuns, the magistrates, stu- 
dents, and a large body of men and women singing 
psalms. He rode in a splendid chariot, and before him 
on a cushion of velvet lay the decree which authorized 
the collections. In this state he repaired to the principal 
church, and after delivering a discourse which generally 
recommended the abuses of the church, he would offer his 
goods for sale by striking with a piece of copper on a 
metal plate filled with indulgences ready signed, crying 
out at the same time, "Buy, buy." Among the devices 
employed to attract customers, one of the most successful 
was the exhibition of a picture representing poor souls 
tormented by the devil in purgatory, with the inscrip- 
tion : 

"The moment the money in the box doth ring 
The soul out of purgatory to heaven doth spring." 

On the 3rst day of October, 15 17, Martin Luther 
declared war against the sale of indulgences, by affixing 
to the great door of the Castle church at Wittenberg, 
already described, his celebrated ninety-five theses, chal- 
lenging all comers to dispute with him, and pledging to 
prove that the pardon of sins was to be obtained only by 
contrition and penance and not to be bought with money. 

The tliird important event to which I refer as memori- 
alized at Wittenberg was the burning of the Pope's bull. 
The challenge of Luther fell like a spark on matter pre- 
pared for explosion. What thousands had thought a 
secret, what hundreds of thousands had suspected, they 
now felt to be true. When the theses found their way 
into every part of Germany and were reported at Rome, 



126 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

the Pope at first looked on the matter as a mere dispute 
between monks of rival orders, and dispatched Thomas 
Cajetan,general of the Dominicans, to inquire into the case. 
Luther was summoned to appear at Rome, and had he 
gone that would probably have been the last of him, but 
the Emperor Maximilian, thinking this a good opportunity 
to humble the pretensions of the Pope, informed Frede- 
rick, Duke of Saxony, that the monk must be spared. 
Luther, instead of being given up to the Pope, was per- 
mitted to meet Cajetan at Augsburg (a city of 50,000 
inhabitants in Bavaria), where the Diet was then sitting, 
and 'discuss with him the subject of the theses. This 
discussion amounted to nothing. Cajetan, an intemperate 
man, demanded an unqualified retraction by Luther of all 
he had written. This being refused, he arose in great 
wrath and dismissed the assembly with the words, " I will 
have no more to say to that beast, for he hath deep-seeing 
eyes and strange speculations in his head." Circumstances 
at this time greatly favored Luther. The Emperor Max- 
imilian dying, the administration of the empire fell, during 
the interregnum, into the hands of his friend, Frederick, 
of Saxony, and the Pope, wishing to conciliate him, pre- 
pared a friendly discussion to be held at Leipsic between 
Luther, Dr. Eck and others. Luther maintained himself 
grandly on this occasion. A painting in the Dresden 
gallery by Cranach represents the scene, where Luther in 
the full maturity of his powers, in the midst of an im- 
mense multitude, stands nobly contending for the truth of 
God's word. This discussion was as futile as that at 
Augsburg. Luther liad gone too far to retract, and Dr. 
Eck, fully convinced that he was unyielding, proceeded to 
Rome to secure his condemnation. On the 15th of June, 
1520, the famous bull, Exsurge Dotnine, " Let God arise," 
was published, in which forty-one propositions fnom Lu- 
ther's works were condemned as scandalous and heretical ; 
all persons were forbidden to read his writings on pain of 
excommunication ; those who possessed any of them were 
commanded to burn them ; Luther himself, unless he re- 
tracted his words and burnt his books in sixty days, was 
pronounced an obstinate heretic; was excommunicated 



THE HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 12/ 

and delivered over to Satan for the destruction of his 
body; and all secular princes were required under pain of 
the same censures to seize and deliver him up to punish- 
ment. In pursuance of this, Luther's works were seized 
and publicly burned at Rome and Louvain. But the bull 
met with a different reception in the greater part of Ger- 
many. At Erfurt the students snatched it from the 
booksellers' shops and threw it into the water. In other 
towns the publishers of it were insulted, and the bull itself 
torn up and trodden under foot. Luther himself published 
a pamphlet against it in which he denounced the Pope as 
the Man of Sin, or Anti-Christ foretold in the Scriptures, 
and in retaliation for burning his own books he assembled 
the professors and students of the University of Witten- 
berg in the open space, outside the Elster Gate already 
described, and there in the presence of a large concourse 
of spectators consigned the bull, together with all the 
papal decretals, to the flames, saying, " Thou hast afflicted 
the holy of the Lord, may eternal fire afflict and consume 
thee ! " 

The fourth event which happened was Luther's summons 
to the Diet of Worms. From the publication of the 
theses the breach had been widening until now there was 
open war between Luther and the Pope, and the new em- 
peror, Charles V. being in full sympathy with the Papists, 
which he thought the strongest party, summoned Luther 
to appear for trial at the Diet which was then sitting at 
Worms, a city of Wurtemburg, of 30,000 inhabitants. I 
take it for granted that you know that a Diet is a general 
assembly, corresponding somewhat to our house of repre- 
sentatives. I mention this because a little girl, on hearing 
me speak of Luther's being called to the Diet of Worms 
said, "O, horrible ! you don't tell me that they punished 
him by making him eat worms." With Luther's sum- 
mons came also a safe conduct which ostensibly guaran- 
teed his safe return. As this safe conduct had been vio- 
lated in the case of John Huss, and could not be trusted, 
as Luther was in danger of being assassinated on the way 
by the infuriated Catholics, his friends urged him not to 
go. But no sooner did the summons come than he took 



128 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

up his departure for Worms, there to stand solitary and 
alone in the presence of an enraged emperor and his co- 
horts, the infuriated representatives of the papal see. 

It was a bold undertaking, but boldly was it executed. 
This journey was like an ovation, for all felt he was going 
to his martyrdom. At Leipsic, which he reached on the 
2d of April, the cup of honor of the city was tendered 
to him. On the 4th he came to Weimer, where Duke 
John sent him money to pay his expenses. On nearing 
Erfurt next day, he was met by an escort of several distin- 
guished persons with forty horsemen. Here he preached 
to immense audiences. At Eisenach, his dear Eisenach, 
he bowed as he passed in front of the house of dame Ur- 
sula Cotta, with tears in his eyes. At Oppenheim his 
friends, during the temporary absence of the imperial her- 
ald, urged him to flee, stating that he would be burned if 
he went on. "Sir," said he, "if there were as many devils 
in Worms as there are tiles upon the roofs of the houses, 
nevertheless, I would go through them and make my con- 
fession openly " On the i6th, coming in sight of Worms, 
and at once beholding its old bell towers, he rose in his 
chariot and began to sing the hymn, the words and the 
music of which he had improvised two days before at 
Oppenheim and which from that moment became the 
Marseillais of the Reformation. 



"Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, 
Ein' gute Wehr und Woffen. 
Er hilft uns frei aus aller noht, 
Die uns jetzt hat betroffen. 
Der alt bose Feind 
Mit Ernst er's jetzt meint ; 
Gross' Macht und viel List 
Sein' grausam Rustung ist.' 
Auf Erd' ist nicht seins' Gleichen. 

"Mit unser Macht ist nichts gethan, 
Wir sind gar bald velohren : 
Aber streit fur uns rechte Mann, 
Den Gott selbst hat erkoren. 
Fragst du, wer er ist ? 
Er heisst Jesus Christ, 
Der Herr Zebaoth ; 



N SILENTiO 
FORTITVIDO 







MARTIN LUTHER. 



THE HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 1 29 

Und ist kein andrer Gott, 
Das Feld muss er behalten. 

"Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel war, 
Und woUt unst gar verschlingen, 
So furchten wir uns nicht sosehr, 
Es soil uns doch gelingen ; 
Der fust dieser welt, 
Wie sau'r er sich stellt, 
Thut er uns doch nichts ; 
Das Macht, er ist gericht't. 
Ein Wortlein kann ihn fallen. 

"Das Wort sie sollen lassen stehn, 

Und kein Dank darzu haben ; 

Er ist bei uns wohl auf dem Plan 

Mit seinem Geist und Gaben. 

Nehm'n sie uns den Leib, 

Gut, Ehr, Kind und VVeib, 

Lass fahren dahin, 

Sie haben kain Gewinn ; 

Das Reich muss uns doch bleiben. 

TRANSLATION. 

"A safe stronghold our God is still, 
A trusty shield and weapon ; 
He'll help us clear from all the ill 
That hath us now o'ertaken. 
The ancient prince of hell 
Hath risen with purpose fell, 
Strong mail of craft and power 
He weareth in this hour — 
On earth is not his fellow. 

"With force of arms we nothing can,. 
FuU soon were we down-ridden ; 
But for us fights the proper Man, 
Whom God himself hath bidden. 
Ask ye, Who is this same ?. 
Christ Jesus is his name. 
The Lord Zeboath's Son, 
He and no other one, 
Shall conquer in the battle. 

"And were this world all devils o'er,. 
And watching to devour us. 
We lay it not to heart so sore. 
We know they can't o'erpower us. 



130 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

And let the prince of ill ; 

Look grim as e'er he will, 

He harms us not a whit, 

For why ? His doom is writ — 

A word shall quickly slay him. 

'•God's word, for all their craft and force, 

One moment will not linger. 

But spite of hell, shall have its course, 

'Tis written by his finger. 

And though they take our life. 

Goods, houses, children, wife. 

Yet is their profit small. 

These things shall vanish all. 

The city of God remaineth." 

On the following day, April 17th, he appeared before 
the Diet, where were assembled as delegates and spectators, 
five thousand people, the great majority of whom would 
gladly have dispensed with the trial, and hurried him to 
the stake. Some friends, however, stood near him, though 
like the Apostles in the Judgment Hall of Pilate, afraid 
to take part. As he entered the great hall in which the 
assembly sat, George of Freidsbergsaid : "Monkiken, thou 
art on thy way to make such a stand as neither I nor 
many a captain besides ever made on the field of battle, 
but God will not forsake thee." Many others addressed 
words of encouragement to him. One recalled to his 
remembrance the words of Christ, " when they shall lead 
you and deliver you up, take no thought, beforehand what 
ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate, but whatsoever 
shall be given you in that hour speak." The proceedings 
were opened by asking Luther whether he acknowledged 
a pile of books which lay on the table to be his, and 
whether he would retract their contents? To the first, 
he said, " yes," and to the second, he said as it involved a 
matter of faith, he asked for a little time. It was granted, 
and when the Assembly met again, the Emperor demanded 
that Luther should then and there explicitly declare him- 
self. Hereupon the bold monk made reply with a firm 
voice: '• If, then, your Imperial Majesty requires a direct 
answer, I will give one that has neither horns nor teeth. 
When convinced of my errors by passages from the Scrip- 



THE HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. I3I 

tures, or by clear and manifest reasons and arguments, for 
I put no trust in a council nor in the Pope, who, it is as 
clear as day, have often contradicted and confuted them- 
selves, I will retract, but otherwise not ; since it is neither 
safe nor prudent to do anything against one's conscience. 
Here I make my stand, and can act not otherwise. God 
help me, Amen." At the close of a great speech in the 
United States Senate, John Randolph once remarked : "I 
would rather be the author of that speech than Emperor 
of all the Russias." There was nothing peculiarly rhetor- 
ical or striking in these words of Luther, but they will 
live when the empire of Russia shall have fallen, and the 
most splendid utterances of Webster shall have been for- 
gotten. Certainly we can say that Luther presented a 
grander spectacle that day, uttering God's truth in the 
presence of bayonets and burnings, than did Charles the 
v., the Emperor of all Germany, who heard them, and 
who could do nothing in his impotent rage but tremble, 
Felix like, and dismiss the Council. 

At the close of the Council at Worms, many were in 
favor of arresting and destroying Luther at once, but the 
Emperor, fearing the effect of such a violation of his safe 
conduct, permitted him to start on his way back to Wit- 
tenberg. Soon after his departure he was put under the 
ban of the Empire, and thus deprived of all his privileges 
as a subject, and every man enjoined to seize his person 
as soon as the term of his safe conduct had expired. 
Alas ! poor Luther, the chains are already forged with 
which thy noble limbs are to be bound, the fagots are al- 
ready prepared with which thy noble life is to be extin- 
guished, and wicked fiends in the name of Christianity 
are gloating over the mere prospect of thy blood. But 
Luther had a friend who had said, "I will never leave thee 
nor forsake thee,'' and He provided him another friend in 
the person of the Elector of Saxony who, knowing that 
his safe conduct was nearly ended, ventured to arrange a 
plan for conveying him to some place of safety as soon as 
he should reach his dominions. Not far from Eisenach 
three horsemen rushed suddenly out of the wood, one of 
them seized the reins and interrogated the coachman, and 



132 EUROPEAN NOTES, 

another held a javelin against Luther's breast. He was 
then placed on a horse and conducted to the Wartburg, a 
castle belonging to the Elector two nailes from Eisenach, 
where he lived under the assumed name and character of 
Junker George, as a nobleman, and this is the next home, 
or in this case, haunt oi the great Reformer. This castle, 
situated on one of the loftiest and most beautiful of the 
Thuringian hills 1356 feet above the sea level, and six 
hundred and twenty-four feet above Eisenach, was found- 
ed by Lewis, the Springer, in 1070, occupied by the land- 
graves of Thuringia until 1247, and is one of the occasional 
residences of the Grand Duke of Weimar. It is one of 
the finest castles in Europe, built in the Romanesque 
style. Interesting reminiscences of the Reformer are still 
preserved in the Vorburg. A room which has undergone 
little alteration is shown here, containing Luther's table, 
drinking vessel, armor as Junker George, bookcase, let- 
ters, portrait, and other memorials, where the great Re- 
former zealously worked at his translation of the Bible 
and other works from May 4th, 1521, to the 6th of March 
1522. After the exciting scenes through which he passed, 
his solitude iiad a very depressing effect upon him, so 
that his condition was little short of insanity. Strange 
visions were perpetually presenting themselves to his eyes. 
One day, as he sat buried in his translation of the Script- 
ures, the arch fiend himself appeared in bodily presence, 
standing at his right hand, with a grin of devilish triumph 
and derision. Half mad with terror, yet indignant at this 
intrusion on his privacy, Luther seized the heavy inkstand 
which stood beside him, and hurled it at the head of his 
unwelcome visitor, who vanished with a cry of rage and 
disappointment. 

In confirmation of this strange tale, Luther's room in 
the Wartburg is shown to strangers with the stains of ink 
still visible on the wall. Of course, it was a secret all this 
while where Luther was, and many supposed he had been 
killed. He dates his letters from this haunt as follows : 
"From the region of the air, from the region of birds, 
from amidst the birds which sing sweetly in the branches 
of the tall trees and praise God," or again, "From the 



THE HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 1 33 

mountain, from the Isle of Patmos, or from my desert," 
and from this height he inundated Germany with his 
writings till the cause of the Reformation, like a mighty 
torrent, rolled on, sweeping everything before it. Some 
of his utterances at this time against the Pope were equal 
te the most withering onslaughts of Demosthenes against 
Philip or Cicero against Verres. After remaining about 
a year, he abandoned this safe retreat against the wishes 
of the Elector, and returned to Wittenberg to quell some 
disturbances on the part of Carlstadt and others who, 
abusing the liberty newly vouchsafed to them, were going 
into all kinds of excesses, destroying churches, breaking 
images, etc. During the next years of his life, he was 
engaged in discussion, not only with the Pope, but with 
those intemperate men, particularly Carlstadt and Meyer, 
whose course led to the slaughter of over 100,000 mis- 
guided peasants. He also had a controversy with some 
learned men of his own party, whose views on certain 
points of doctrine he thought fatal to the cause. About 
this time, strange as it may appear, Luther actually mar- 
ried. You may think it strange that so bold and busy a 
man, in the midst of such a turbulent life, should find time 
to think of the tender passion, but perhaps it is only 
another illustration that "the bravest are the tenderest, 
the loving are the daring " He married a handsome nun, 
named Catherine Von Bora, was devotedly fond of her 
and had several children by her, not one of whom answer- 
ed to the prophecy in which the Catholics so cordially 
believed, that from the marriage of a monk and nun An- 
tichrist would spring. Antichrist was already in the world, 
and Luther and his wife were laboring to destroy his 
power. Luther, while rough and violent towards his en- 
emies, was as gentle in his family as a woman. I have the 
photograph of a fine painting by Cranach, representing 
him in the bosom of his family, amusing them with his 
guitar, while the children were playing round a Christmas 
tree prepared by the loving hands of their parents. He 
was fond of amusements. Music was his chief delight. 
He cultivated it assiduously all his life and taught it to 
his children. He did not hesitate to say that music ap- 



134 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

peared to him the first of the arts after theology. "Music,' 
said he, "is the art of the prophets, it is the only other 
art which, like theology, can calm the agitation of the soul 
and put the devil to flight." He was also a great admirer 
of fine painting, living as he did in the golden age of the 
great masters. 

Luther was not averse to creature comforts, but a great 
lover of Eimbach beer and good Rhenish wine. When he 
left the hall of the Diet at Worms, a glass of beer was sent 
to him by Duke Ehrick of Brunswick. He drank it grateful- 
ly, saying, "As Duke Ehrick hath remembered me, so may 
our Lord Jesus Christ remember him in his last agony," 
These words were recollected by the duke on his death- 
bed. He was not opposed to wearing ornaments. In the 
celebrated Green Vault, in Dresden, in the midst of the 
finest collection of diamonds in the world, I saw his en- 
ameled gold ring, which he habitually wore, on which was 
represented a skull with these words inscribed, "'Mori 
sacpe cogita?' By its side was a solid gold medal which 
his wife used to wear round her neck. About this time 
he was reduced to extreme poverty. The new church, in 
throwing off the yoke of Papacy, had placed itself in sub- 
jection to the civil authority, (the greatest mistake of Lu- 
ther's life,) and the civil authority had from its very breath 
left it to starve. Luther resolved upon some secular oc- 
cupation for a livelihood. "li the world will not support 
us," said he, "for the sake of the word, let us learn to sup- 
port ourselves by the labor of our hands." As a matter 
of choice he would have selected one of the arts he so 
much loved — painting or music — but unable to do this, he 
ordered the tools from Nuremberg and became a turner. 
Let those who would frown upon ministers who have to 
support themselves by secular work remember that Paul 
was a tent maker, Bunyan a tinker, and Martin Luther a 
turner. He was called from his retirement by the Diet of 
Augsburg, ordered by the emperor to settle the church 
difficulties which had assumed colossal proportions and 
threatened the destruction of the Empire. This Diet was 
opened by the Emperor in person, June i8th, 1530, but it 
was quite a different thing from the Diet at Worms. Then 



THE HOMES AND HAUNTS OF LUTHER. 1 35 

one poor monk stood up for the cause of Reform, but 
now nearly one half of the princes of the Empire were ar- 
rayed against the Papal hierarchy. , Luther, being under 
the ban of the Empire, could not appear. The elector, 
however, wishing to convey the great Reformer as near to 
the place of convocation as safety would permit, took him 
to Cobiirg ; and this is the next home or haunt that brief- 
ly claims our attention. As this was the place of my res- 
idence in Germany, I can speak of it with more interest 
than any other. 

Coburg is specially noticeable for three things: 
1st. Its splendid schools. 2d. Its elegant society. 3d. 
As being the birthplace and home of Prince Albert, the 
consort of Queen Victoria. The reigning duke, Ernest 
II., is the older brother of Prince Albert, with six ro3;'al 
palaces and an income of $300,000 per annum, but what 
is even better, a lineal descendant of Duke Ernest, who 
signed the Augsburg Confession. To this place Luther 
was brought and confined in a room in Coburg Castle, 
which is, i think, quite the equal of the Wartburg in size 
and strength, and more attractive in appearance. Situated 
on a hill 545 feet above the town, it commands the finest 
view in Germany. It was the residence of the Saxon 
dukes till John Ernest transferred his seat to Ehrenburg 
in the centre of the town in 1549. Here Luther remained 
three months, translated the Prophets and Psalms, and 
wrote one hundred and nineteen letters. The castle, 
elegantly restored and decorated, is fitted up as a museum. 
The Reformation room contains Luther's writing mate- 
rials, bedstead, table, chairs, etc., together with portraits 
of Luther, his wife, and other reformers. From this place 
he writes, " My residence is now in the clouds, in the em- 
pire of birds," and the appropriateness of this appears 
when you stand in the town and look up to the hill on 
which it is situated, all covered with snow, while the 
meadows of the Itz, on which the town is situated, are 
green as summer. Here he was in daily correspondence 
with Melaricthon, the leader at Augsburg, and other re- 
formers, and was really the ruling spirit, suggesting most 
that was done. Failing to reconcile matters at Augsburg, 



136 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

the Emperor declared war against all the Protestants> 
which led to the formation of the League of Schmalkal- 
den, drawn up principally by Luther and signed by him. 
The conflict went on till truth triumphed over error, and 
the cause of the Reformation was firmly established. On 
Luther's way to Coburg he sojourned at a house in the 
suburbs of Sonneberg, which is still preserved as the "Lu- 
ther house," where I saw the bed in which he slept with 
Melancthon, some of his cast-off garments, his traveling 
canteen, and some other memorials. As he was now get- 
ting old and infirm, he returned to Wittenberg, where he 
spent the remainder of his life, with the exception of a 
brief visit to Eisleben, his native place, whither he went 
to settle some disputes among the nobles, where he died 
February i8th, 1546, but his body was conveyed to Wit- 
tenberg and interred, as already stated, in the Castle 
church there at the foot of the pulpit. This was his last 
earthly home, to which he was carried with all the pomp 
and ceremony due to so great a character, and which even 
his enemies dared not profane. Some years after his 
death, Wittenberg was besieged and taken. Charles V. 
on this occasion desired to see the tomb of the Reformer. 
With folded arms, he was reading the inscription, when 
one of his officers proposed to open the grave and give 
the ashes of the heretic to the winds. 1 he monarch's 
cheek grew red, and he said : " I war not with the dead, 
let this place be respected." "The memory of the just 
is blessed." The grave of the peasant boy of Eisenach, of 
the poor monk of Erfurt, of the faithful preacher of Wit- 
tenberg, is now a shrine to which the pious of all lands 
repair, and on which they gaze with gratitude and devo- 
tion. I have said that this was his last home, but we 
believe it was but the portal to another home, the Vorberg 
to his celestial castle, "a house not made with hands, eter- 
nal in the heavens.'' This home we hope to visit when 
we go on our last long pilgrimage, not to behold the 
crumbling relics of the Reformer, but to see Luther him- 
self in the full enjoyment of his reward, beyond the reach 
of popes, emperors and diets, reposing safely in the "feste- 
burg," the strong fortress of his Father and his God, 




INTERIOK OF WARTBDRG CASTLE. 



CHAPTER VL 



RELIGIOUS ASPECTS AND CUSTOMS OF GER- 
MANY. 

I WISH it to be distinctly understood that I have no 
prejudices against the Germans, but on the contrary, a 
very high regard for them. They are in many respects a 
wonderful people. They are the greatest military power 
on the face of the earth. The whole empire is like one 
vast military camp; every town and city has its barracks, 
composed of elegant and extensive buildings, with exten- 
sive and admirably adapted grounds, where the soldiers, 
numbering in the aggregate nearly a million, are most 
thoroughly and artistically drilled every day, and then at 
certain seasons they have their field manoeuvres, superin- 
tended by the emperor, kings, dukes and generals in per- 
son, when mimic battles are fought, marching and coun- 
termarching performed, and all the exercises engaged in 
incident to real war. Secondly, Germany is the greatest 
country in the world, in an educational point of view. I 
speak what I know and testify to that I have seen, when 
I say that the University at Heidelberg with its 600 stu- 
dents, the University of Leipsic with its 3,000 students 
and 160 professors, the University of Berlin with a like 
number, to say nothing of Bonn, Halle and Keil, have no 
equals on the face of the earth. High and low, rich and 
poor, are all educated in Germany, public school education 
being compulsory. Thirdly, the Germans are a fine look- 
ing people. The men are large, well proportioned and 
handsome, and the ladies — as I think of them the words 
of Moore rise in my memory : 

"O woman, dear woman, whose fortn and whose soul. 
Are the light and the life of each path we pursue, 

Whether sunned in the tropics or chilled at the pole. 
If woman be there, there is happiness too." 



138 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

And woman is there, with her fair skin, blue eyes, 
blonde hair, faultless form, and warm and loving heart. 

After saying this much, you are doubtless convinced 
that I have no prejudices against Germany and can speak 
the truth in regard to the religious condition of the coun- 
try. Allow me, therefore, to affirm that in a religious 
point of view, Germany is a failure. I read a small book 
some time ago, called "Protestantism — how far a failure ?'' 
That question I can't answer, but I can say, in the cradle 
of the Reformation it is a failure ; as far as being a mighty 
spiritual power in that land is concerned, it is a failure; 
as far as restraining the epicurean propensities of man are 
concerned, it is a failure; as far as vital godliness is con- 
cerned, it is a failure ; as far as crucifying the world is 
concerned, with its affections and lusts, it is a failure, a 
bald, blank, wretched failure. 

In Germany, as is well known, the Church is united with 
the State, the kings, dukes, or princes being the heads of 
the Church in their separate governments, appointing and 
removing the ministers, levying taxes for their support, 
specifying the services they are to perform, and enacting 
rules for their guidance. Luther never made a greater 
mistake than when, rescuing the Church from Papal dom- 
ination, he turned it over to the tender mercies of the 
State. For my part, I think it makes but little difference 
whether a Church is ruled by a pope or a king. If it be 
said that the Pope claims that he is infallible, it may 
be likewise said that it is claimed that "the king can do 
no wrong," and both lord it over God's heritage. Christ 
said: "My kingdom is not of this world," and again, 
"One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." 
And I can but think that a fearful day of reckoning will 
come to both kings and popes. "The kings of the earth 
set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together 
against the Lord and against his anointed." "He that 
sitteth in the heavens shall laugh ; the Lord shall have 
them in derision." 

What are we to expect from a Church in which mem- 
bership is compulsory ? All children are by law required 
to be confirmed at fourteen years of age. I utterly amaz- 



RELIGIOUS ASPECTS AND CUSTOMS OF GERMANY. I39 

ed a gentleman one day by asking him if he belonged to 
the Church. "Of course, I do," said he, "we all belong 
to the Church in Germany." I suggested that some one 
might commit an offence for which he would be excluded. 
"Oh, that is next to impossible," said he. Nothing is 
plainer, I think, than that the Bible makes conversion 
prerequisite to church membership; "He that believeth 
and is baptized shall be saved ;'' "If thou believest with 
all thy heart, thou mayest :'' but in Germany they are 
compelled to be church members whether they believe 
or not. Is it strange that vital godliness should be almost 
unknown among such a people ? Is it strange that, "hav- 
ing a form of godliness, they should deny the power there- 
of?" Is it strange that in such a soil the Upas tree of 
infidelity should have taken root, whose wide spreading 
branches extending to all lands, have poisoned the faith 
and destroyed the hopes of thousands? 

Nothing can convey a better idea of the religion of Ger- 
many than the manner in which the Sabbath is observed, or, 
I should rather say, dishonored. Services are held in most 
of the churches at nine o'clock, when the preacher deliv- 
ers a dry discourse, addressed in most cases to a "beggarly 
account of empty boxes," for the pews are veritable box- 
es, uncushioned, cold, cheerless, the feet having to rest 
upon the stone pavements which constitute the floors. 
Some of these churches are truly magnificent, the relics of 
the pre-reformation times, adorned with the choicest treas- 
ures of art. But these churches, so richly adorned, like 
those in Rome, instead of impressing you as temples of 
the living God, appear rather as temples of art where, in- 
stead of the great objects of worship. Almighty God and 
his Son, Jesus Christ, the names and genius of Lucas Cra- 
nach, Albert Durer, Titian, or some other "master" of an. 
tiquity, is adored. The music at the service is nearly al- 
ways fine ; for where was there ever such a music-loving 
people as the Germans ? and this with the superb architect- 
ure and adornments of art, makes the place and the occa- 
sion interesting enough to a foreigner. But his heart sickens 
at the apparent want of vital godliness which pervades 
the whole scene. As some rich piece from Handel or 



140 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Beethoven is performed by the numerous and cultured 
choir, accompanied by the deep toned organ, and brass 
instruments also, his mind wanders back to the primitive 
days of Christianity when the hurrible disciples "spoke to 
each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, mak- 
ing melody in their hearts to the Lord." 

While Sunday is partially observed until one o'clock, 
after that the day is given up to business and every form 
of worldly amusement and enjoyment. The stores are 
thrown open, men go to the fields to rake their hay, visits 
are made and exchanged, beer saloons are crowded with 
both sexes, who sit for hours sipping their favorite bever- 
age, while regaled with delightful music, or amused with 
comic plays or gymnastic performances by traveling actors. 
Having surfeited themselves with eating and drinking, the 
younger part of the assembly repair to the ballroom and 
dance, until the "wee small hours'' of Monday warn them 
to a little repose before beginning the labors of another 
day. So with some. Others attend the theatre, or opera, 
whose best pieces and best actors are reserved for and 
presented on Sunday. And these are attended by all 
classes and conditions of society, from the highest to the 
lowest, prices being arranged to suit each class and pocket. 
Here are found those who were at church in the morning, 
even the preacher often included. If a performance of 
unusual excellence is to take place in an adjoining town or 
city, special trains are run, and crowds go to Meiningen, 
for example, where the theatre is most celebrated, or 
Beireut, where Wagner held before delighted thousands 
the merits of his Parseval, deeming this the best use they 
can make of that 

" Day of all the week the best, 
Emblem of eternal rest." 

The Germans are a fun-loving people, and have numer- 
ous " fests," or festivals, lasting usually three or four days, 
sometimes two or three weeks, always including a Sunday, 
which is set apart as the " big day." This is particularly 
true of the " Schuetzen fest" (shooting feast), A large 
plat of ground is owned or leased by the society, and 



RELIGIOUS ASPECTS AND CUSTOMS OF GERMANY. I4I 

rented out to be used for shops, beer saloons, circuses, 
menageries, Punch and Judy exhibitions, merry-go-rounds, 
and all kinds of shows. While these places are well attended 
through the week, Sunday is the great day when visitors 
come from many miles around, and the time is spent in 
indescribable hilarity and excitement. I remember that 
the authorities at our Philadelphia Exposition would not 
permit the doors to be opened on Sunday. At the great 
Exposition at Nuremberg, lasting several months, and the 
largest ever held in Germany, Sunday was always the 
greatest day of all, when the " world, the flesh and the 
devil" seemed to be in league, to produce an effect 
which would far eclipse the gorgeous trappery of Bunyan's 
"Vanity Fair.'' 

But it may be asked, how could I, a minister, remain so 
long in such an atmosphere and with such surroundings? 
I answer, it was because I was a minister that I could do 
so ; being my own chaplain, holding services every Sab- 
bath in my own residence, independent of the beliefs and 
practices of others. Moreover, while not doing as much 
good as I might have done, and wished to do, 1 hoped all 
along that my example and instructions in individual cases 
were not without good results. My predecessor, a pious 
Episcopalian, likewise always had services at his residence 
on Sunday, and Mr, Scott, the British charge d'affaires, 
did the same at the legation when practicable, on which 
services we were frequent attendants. In this way, we 
made out to get along with that most difficult day that 
Americans in Europe are called upon to spend. 

So much for the religious aspects and customs of Ger- 
many, and now, in conclusion, let us inquire what has 
occasioned the decay in religion? I answer first, men 
nearly always go to extremes. The Germans, bound hand 
and foot before the Reformation in papal slavery, in 
throwing off their chains abused their liberty and went 
into excesses unwarranted by the Gospel. This was illus- 
trated by the Anabaptists in their enormities in one 
direction, and it is equally true of others so far as con- 
formity to the world is concerned. Secondly — I say it 
with caution and regret — some indiscretions of Martin 



142 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Luther have had much to do with it. Far be it from me 
to reflect upon the great name of Luther. There are 
spots in the sun, and he was not perfect. Were he alive, 
no one would regret more than he that his errors had 
been magnified by his followers, to the injury of the cause 
for which he gave his labor and was willing to give his 
life. Still, it is true, he held liberal views as to the 
observance of the Sabbath. What thus appeared in the 
green tree has had a fearful cropping out in the dry. 
Luther gave his sanction, it is said, to the bigamy of a 
certain duke who was his friend. Where is there a land 
where licentiousness is so pronounced, especially among 
kings, dukes and nobles? Luther bitterly despised the 
Anabaptists and was relentless toward all of his religious 
opponents. Where can a people more proscriptive be 
found than the universal German nation ? Luther was 
especially fond of lager beer. I do not mention this as a 
great sin, but it is a significant fact among a nation of 
beer drinkers that the very cups he used are still exhibit- 
ed as relics, that connected with the houses where he 
lived are immense beer saloons, and that a common le- 
gend on the walls of nearly all the saloons is — 

"Dr. Martin Luther spricht 
Freilich wasser thut'st nicht." 

It must be remembered that the Germans are the idola 
ters of Luther. They regard him, so to speak, as their 
patron saint. His birthplace, his places of confinement, 
his footprints at Worms, his cell at Erfurt, his home, his 
grave, are shrines to which they all repair with feelings 
grateful and devout. When they could derive from the 
example or teaching of Luther the slightest color of 
authority for their practices, they would urge it as " con- 
firmation strong as pro^f from Holy Writ" that they were 
right, and hence the honest conviction of many as to the 
correctness of their religious opinions, and the innocent 
nature of their many indulgences. 

Another cause for the present state of religion is the 
direction which advanced German thought has taken, 
crystalizing in what is widely known as German Rational- 



RELIGIOUS ASPECTS AND CUSTOMS OF GERMANY, I43 

ism. " Much learning has made their scholars mad," but 
they have shown great method in their madness. Instead 
of attacking Christianity in open conflict, they have 
sought to undermine it by professedly arraying themselves 
on its side, while sending forth insidious and dangerous 
books designed to poison the very fountains of faith. They 
have chosen the livery of heaven in which to do the work 
of the devil. However the present state of things may 
be accounted for, Germany is as ripe for a spiritual refor- 
mation to day as it was for a theological and ecclesiastical 
reformation at the time when monks and nuns were 
swarming throughout the land, and Tetzel was hawking 
the papal indulgences from every pulpit. There is no 
better missionary ground ; and while we are thinking of 
China, Africa and Italy, let us not forget the "Fatherland." 
While Methodists, Presbyterians and others are striving 
for what they regard as a pure faith, why may not Baptists 
do niore? Notwithstanding the prejudices against our 
brethren, they have already accomplished much. They 
number 17,000 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and 
5,000 more in the German colonies of Russia. They have 
one hundred and twelve churches, several Associations, a 
triennial Convention, and a network of preaching stations 
extending all along the German and Baltic Seas. Indeed, 
just as the blood of the martyrs proved the seed of the 
church in the early days of Christianity, just as the perse- 
cution of our forefathers in the early settlement of this 
country caused our principles to spread from Rhode 
Island to Georgia, until the great distinctive tenets of 
religious liberty were incorporated by Baptist influence 
in State and Federal constitutions, so the prejudice 
against and privations of our brethren in Germany may 
lead to the successful dissemination of a pure gospel 
there, which, severing Church from State, will give every 
man the privilege of worshipping God according to the 
dictates of his conscience, with none to molest or make 
him afraid. Baptist principles take kindly in German 
soil. This was illustrated by the misguided Anabaptists, 
who in the time of the Reformation spread over the 
greater part of the empire. They went to fanatical and 



144 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

criminal excesses, it is true, but they had much in their 
creed that was right, and there is every reason why the 
Baptists of to-day, not mad and fanatical, but earnest and 
enterprising, should select Germany as their field, rescue 
our principles from the obloquy of centuries, uprear the 
standard of a pure Christianity, and go forth conquering 
and to conquer, until this mighty empire shall become 
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. 

One of the saddest deprivations I felt in Germany was, 
the absence of the social prayer meeting. Such a thing 
seems altogether unknown there. God bless the prayer 
meeting ! It is the life of every Christian, of every church. 
God be thanked for the promise, that "where two or three 
are gathered together," there He is in the midst of them, 
and for the additional promise, "when any two of you agree 
as touching any one thing, it shall be done for you;" for 
with these assurances, a successful prayer meeting maybe 
held anywhere and at any time. But God pity the people 
of Germany, who know comparatively nothing of that 
place, 

"Where spirits blend, 
Where friend holds fellowship with friend. 
That place of all on earth most sweet, 
The hallowed, blood-bought mercy seat," 

The Germans never offer thanks to God at the table. 
When they get through eating, they rise, shake hands, or 
bow, and say to each other, "Mahlzeit," or "Gesegnete 
mahlzeit,'' which merely means, "May you have a good 
time in digesting." 

Another sad feature of the religious condition of Ger- 
many, is the neglect of the religious culture of the children. 
There they have no Sunday-schools, as we understand 
them, the only instruction given being that in which they 
are prepared for confirmation in the State Church. In 
point of educational advantages, as I have said, Germany 
is ahead of all other lands. The public schools and gym- 
nasiums are all crowded, and the children are so overtaxed 
with studies during the week that they have neither time 
nor relish for religious lessons on Sunday. They have no 
Saturday holidays as in America, and I have been told 



RELIGIOUS ASPECTS AND CUSTOMS OF GERMANY. I45 

that teachers increase their tasks for Monday, that they 
may devote Sunday also to study, which they often do. 
The countless multitudes of pupils, while far advanced in 
some studies, show the deleterious effects of too intense 
application on their little faces, and are a pale, worn, sickly 
looking set, most of them wearing spectacles, owing to the 
effect of the difficult German letters on the strained or- 
gatis of vision. 

Another thing that impresses one with the irreligion of 
the country is the irreverent use of the most holy names 
of Almighty God and the Lord Jesus Christ, even in the 
best and most refined circles of society. My ears have 
been pained and wearied at the table and iu the parlor 
wath such exclamations as, "Ach ! Gott," "Der Hebe Gott.'' 
"Der Herr Jesus," and so on, from the lips of ladies often 
accomplished and beautiful. 

Another discouraging circumstance we find in the con- 
ceits and prejudices of the people. They think they have 
the best, purest and most comfortable religion in the 
world, and on the other hand, they think that others are 
deluded with the worst. Their prejudices against Jews,, 
Catholics, and particularly Baptists, are intense. The hor- 
rible and unchristian treatment of Jews in Russia is known^ 
to the world, and must ever remain a stigma on that na- 
tion. It must be remembered that Germany borders on- 
Russia, and many here partake of the anti-Jewish senti- 
ments of that land of riot and disorder. A large and en- 
thusiastic anti-Jewish assembly was recently held in^ 
Dresden, one of the largest and most refined cities of the 
Empire. I have no sort of sympathy with this crusade 
against the Jews. That they slew our Lord is true, but 
we must not forget that ''he was delivered by the deter- 
minate counsel and foreknowledge of God,'' without the 
shedding of whose blood there could be no remission of 
sin. One would think from the recent treatment of the 
Jews that many had just heard for the first time of the 
part they took in the awful tragedy of Calvary. I was- 
really tuld of an Irishman who heard at church a minis- 
ter's description of the murder of our Saviour. He left 
the place in a rage, and next day meeting a Jew on the 
10 



146 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

street, he knocked him down. "And what is that for?" 
asked the Jew. "Never mind ; you know," said he, "you 
murdered the Saviour." The Jews in Germany are rarely 
taken into society, and suffer many inconveniences and 
reproaches on account of their reHgion. That the Ger- 
mans should be prejudiced against the Roman Catholics 
is not so strange, for Catholicism, before the Reformation, 
had sucked the life blood of the Empire, and still, to the 
great annoyance of the people, "like a wounded snake, 
drags its slow length along.'' 

Their prejudice against the Baptists arises from two 
considerations. 1st. They associate them with the mad 
peasants of Thuringia, and mad men of Munster, called 
Anabaptists, of the time of Luther and the Reformation. 
No people on earth could be more hated than were those 
Anabaptists. They were hunted down and slain to the 
number of one hundred thousand, multitudes of them being 
horribly tortured. I have myself seen some of the instru- 
ments with which they were tortured, and at Munster, in 
Westphalia, and at Muhlhausen, in Thuringia, the chief at- 
tractions of the places consist of museums containing the 
horrible engines of cruelty with which multitudes of these 
deluded people were punished. As these people did not be- 
lieve in a State church nor infant baptism nor in sprinkling, 
and they detect similar tenets among the Baptists, they 
class them as lineal descendants of the Anabaptists. 2d. 
They say if the Baptists succeed, their State religion, and 
indeed, all other religions, must go down, involving the 
State itself in the common ruin. Hence the Baptists 
have a difficult work before them. "The State Church,'' 
(I quote the exact words of Rev. Philip Bickel, missionary 
in charge of Oncken's work, in a letter to me,) "is jealous 
of her ancient prerogative, and in most places a burial 
with a sermon and hymn is denied us. Our pastors have 
been fined for speaking at the graves of their friends, and 
many are the disabilities and vexations put upon us, I 
have been before the police judge twice, and fined for 
printing matter which does not please the clericals," 

Having noticed the religious aspects of the Germans, I 
proceed, in the second place, to speak of some of their 
religious customs and observances. 



RELIGIOUS ASPECTS AND CUSTOMS OF GERMANY. I47 

Easter is a Roman Catholic institution, but all the 
churches that have come out of Rome have brought that 
flowery relic with them. The Episcopal Church in Amer- 
ica, the Church of England, and the Lutheran Church all 
make much ado over Easter. But nowhere, not even 
in the Catholic countries, have I seen the day more 
" honored" than in Germany. It is looked forward to, 
and looked back to, as an epoch in the year, from which 
everything is dated or antedated. When it comes, the 
churches are ornamented with flowers and the streets 
with the green treasures of the forest. Every available 
space in every church is occupied, and the music is superb 
beyond description. The show windows are filled with 
gaudily painted eggs, both natural and artificial, and other 
ornaments emblematic of " the day we celebrate," and 
many other things done at once novel and picturesque. 

But as may be supposed, if Easter is celebrated, much 
more is Christmas. I rather like the way they observe 
this great holiday. While it, too, is Roman Catholic in 
its origin, and we don't know even the day, week or 
month on which Christ was born, I see no reason why the 
custom, so full of joy especially to the young, should not 
be indulged in. If we celebrate the birthday of Wash- 
ington, the father of his country, and that of other illus- 
trious men, there is no reason why we should not cele- 
brate that of the Saviour of the world. Only we should 
bear in mind that while religiously observing it, we should 
not regard it as a religious festival. At this season, in 
Germany, extra services are held in the churches, family 
reunions take place, gifts are exchanged, and Santa Claus, 
the patron saint of the children, showers his favors on the 
young, just as here. The place where I lived might be 
called the peculiar home of Santa Claus, and in my im- 
agination I can see him now, as I have seen hundreds of 
his images, with huge, red cheeks, long, grey beard and 
flowing hair, holding a tree in one hand and a flag in the 
other, while a great sack is strapped to his back full of 
toys, as he comes forth from the snow-clad Thuringia 
mountains to visit all portions of the habitable globe. To 
give some idea of the extent of his operations, I will state 



148 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

that nearly two millions of dollars' worth of toys are 
annually shipped from his home through the Sonneberg 
consulate to the United States. It is said that the "shoe- 
makers' children go unshod,'' but it is not true that the 
children in the toy-making region go without toys. But 
there is a singular custom connected with the way they 
receive them. A man goes around dressed as Santa 
Claus to every house, with a basket of toys and a bundle 
of switches. On reaching the door, he calls for the 
parents and children, and asks if the children have been 
good ; if they say yes, he gives them toys, but if 710, he 
gives them a sound whipping. 

Another singular custom takes place on the first of 
May, called Walpurgis, when the peasants leave their 
homes and stay out in the fields all night with whips in 
their hands, with which they "cut and slash" furiously for 
the purpose of driving the witches away. Upon the per- 
formance of that duty, they think, good crops and hap- 
piness for another year depends. 

Other occasions of great interest among the Germans 
are the "Buss tags," or Fast days. On these days, which 
come twice a year, these Germans certainly "appear unto 
men to fast." The stores are all closed, and not 
an article can be bought for love or money. The streets 
are deserted, the churches crowded, sweet and plaintive 
music echoes the feelings of the saddened throng and ev- 
erything seems as quiet as if "the universal pulse of na- 
ture stood still." Indeed, it seemed as if the people, con- 
scious of a life forgetful of God and of sins committed 
through so many days, weeks and months, were endeav- 
oring by one tremendous effort to throw them off. And 
I hope they did ; for "if we confess our sins, he is faithful 
and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unright- 
eousness," There is a wonderful power in even a single 
tear of repentance. As I gazed upon them in their hu- 
miliation, I recalled the words of Moore: 

"There's a drop, said the Peri, which, down from the moon, 
Falls through the withering airs of June 
Upon Egypt's land, of so healing a power, 
So balmy a virtue that even in the hour 



RELIGIOUS ASTECTS AND CUSTOMS OF GERMANY. 149 

That drop descends, contagion dies, 
And health reanimates earth and skies. 
Oh, is it not thus, thou man of sin, 
The precious tears of repentance fall. 
Though foul thy fiery plagues have been, 
One heavenly drop hath dispelled them all." 

Wedding ceremonies in Germany are not very different 
from those in America, only they do not create half the 
interest in a community that they do here. The sexes 
are restrained by very severe rules before marriage. Young 
gentlemen hardly ever visit young ladies at their homes, 
and if they do, the parents cf the young ladies must always 
be present at the interview. It is considered highly in- 
decorous for a young lady to be seen walking the street 
u^ith a gentleman. They mingle freely, however, at balls 
and parties, on skating ponds and in club-houses. When 
an engagement takes place, it is announced by a card beau- 
tifully printed, headed " verlobte," or affianced, and giving 
the names of the parties. This is sent to all the friends 
of the respective families of the engaged pair, and some- 
times a party is given in honor of the event. After the 
engagement, the bride and bridegroom (for so they are 
called), while shutting themselves out from society and 
the world, hold themselves sacred to each other, and can 
mingle as freely as they please, which is generally pretty 
freely. It is perfectly proper for them to walk and talk 
together, no disgrace to embrace, naught amiss when they 
kiss. So when the marriage takes place the excitement 
has worn off the minds of the people, and often but very 
few are present to witness the ceremony. 

More singular, however, are their funeral ceremonies. 
Hearses and carriages are seldom seen at a funeral. The 
dead are carried on a litter borne on the shoulders of the 
pall bearers, followed by a procession composed entirely 
of men ; women, though they be relatives of the deceased, 
never attend. There is an exception to this rule when 
mourners are hired, which is sometimes the case when the 
parties are wealthy and wish to make a display. Then 
five or six young women are employed, who, clothed in 
deep mourning, follow the remains and weep loud and 
long in honor of the departed. A gentleman in Coburg 



I50 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

told me that when his uncle died he hired six who per- 
formed the service for two marks (50 cents) each, and said 
he had no doubt when they reached home they had a 
hearty laugh over it. On reaching the grave the minister 
delivers an address, which is generally a eulogy on the 
deceased, the burial services are read, a hymn is sung, and 
the body is lowered to its last rest. 

Another method of disposing of the dead, which is get- 
ting more and more popular, is by cremation. As I was 
called upon to superintend a cremation during my stay, 
and the facts connected with it are interesting, I will give 
them in detail. The deceased was an American citizen, 
formerly, I learn, an officer in the United States Army, 
who died at Baden-Baden. Having requested that his 
remains should be cremated, his widow gave the whole 
matter into my hands. The preliminary arrangements 
are extensive and troublesome. First, permission must 
be obtained from the municipal authorities where the 
death occurs, and also from Gotha, that the body maybe 
removed from one place to the other. A "leiche pass" 
(or dead body permit) must accompany the remains for 
the satisfaction of the railroad authorities. The money 
to pay the expenses of cremation must be paid in advance, 
and the costs are as follows : For removal from depot to 
cemetery $7.50 ; for cremating I37.50. As the authorities 
will not permit the body to be removed unless encased in 
metal, zinc is prescribed as indispensable, that it may 
readily melt when exposed to the heat. This is enclosed 
in a wooden coffin, the dimensions of which must not 
exceed a certain measurement in height, length and 
breadth, that it may fit the receptacle in the stone. When 
a church service is demanded the cost is seven dollars and 
fifty cents more, but these are usually dispensed with. 

The apparatus at Gotha, located in the new cemetery, 
is the only one in Germany; was erected in 1878, and 
cost as follows : for the machinery $4,600 ; the buildings 
$17,500; total $22,100. The buildings consist of (i) a 
suite of apartments for the reception of the bodies, to 
which are attached the offices of the establishment; (2) 
the Columbarium, where the urns are kept which contain 



RELIGIOUS ASPECTS AND CUSTOMS OF GERMANY. 151 

the ashes of the cremated ones not yet removed. Some 
of these urns are highly ornamented and expensive, con- 
tain beautiful inscriptions, and are decorated with flowers 
and other ornaments; (3) and lastly, the chapel where the 
solemnities are held, through the floor of which the body 
is lowered to the furnace beneath. The furnace is a very 
complicated and ingenious arrangement, built by a Dres- 
den firm after the Italian model. It consists first of a 
huge oval furnace where the gas is produced, which is 
conducted by a canal to the "oven" that receives the 
body. This oven is twenty-one feet long and thirteen 
feet high, and has two chambers. The gas is only admit- 
ted into one at first, where it burns until a white heat is 
produced. At the proper time (in this instance three in 
the afternoon), the body, lowered from the church on a 
sort of dumb waiter, is placed in front of the oven into 
which the gas has not yet been admitted. It is taken out 
of the wooden coffin, placed then upon a truck, and the 
doors of the last named chamber being opened, it is rolled 
in and the door closed. A crank is then turned on the 
outside, and the burning gas from the other red-hot cham- 
ber is admitted, and the body is rapidly consumed. The 
zinc case rapidly melts first, then the garments are con- 
sumed, and the body burns for a period lasting from one 
hour and three quarters to two hours. The ashes fall into 
a receiver, which, after the burning, is drawn out from 
below. They are then placed in an urn and stationed in 
the Columbarium, or in a tin cylinder prepared for the 
purpose, and taken away by the friends of the deceased. 
It takes a day and a night to heat the apparatus thorough- 
ly, so that bodies that reach Gotha one day cannot be 
cremated till the next. Those who desire cremation gene- 
rally belong to the wealthier classes of society, but the 
expenses attending the operation are not so great as those 
consequent upon fashionable interments in America. 

I said before that some of the urns in the Columbarium 
were ornamented with beautiful inscriptions. I must 
retract so much of that expression as relates to the in- 
scriptions being beautiful. How could a beautiful in- 
scription be written over a little pile of ashes ! But 



152 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

while the inscriptions were not beautiful, they were ap- 
propriate. On several urns simply these words were in- 
scribed : "Peace to thy ashes." On one I read, "Thy wish 
was to us holy : Peace to thy ashes ;" on another, "Thy 
will be done ;'' on another, "Eis war sein wille" (it was 
his will), as if cremation were too horrible to think of 
except in obedience to the request of the deceased. On 
another urn was this inscription, "Seine leben war stre- 
ben" (thy life was endeavor). Another read, "Sanft ruhe 
seine ashe" (soft rest his ashes), and still another this 
verse of German poetry : 

"Der staub lie^t die urne ; 
Der Geist weilt im licht i 
Das bild ruht im herzen, 
Und schwindet nicht." 

a translation of which is : 

"The dust lies in the urn ; 
The S'«ul in light doth stay ; 
The image rests in the heart, 
And shall never fade away." 

I retired from the place not very favorably impressed 
with cremation. That silent Columbarium, those artist- 
ically sculptured urns, those voiceless flowers, those mean- 
ingless inscriptions, wore a coldness in striking contrast 
with the "fervent" fires that were glowing and roaring in 
the furnace beneath. That the grave is forbidding, no 
one can deny. "To lie in cold obstruction and to rot, 
this sensible, warm motion to become a senseless clod,'' 
was a thought too horrible not only for Shakespeare, but 
for all men. But I cannot see that lying in a red hot oven 
and being burned to ashes is any the less horrible, but on 
the contrary, far more so. Besides, custom and the Bi- 
ble have caused us to mingle associations with the grave 
which the urn can never possess, and which render the con- 
templation of even that dark and gloomy subject sweet 
and consoling. "There the wicked cease from troubling 
and the weary are at rest," are words whchseem designed 
not for the urn which contains but a handful of ashes, but 
for that enclosure in the generous lap of our mother earth 
called a grave, over whose very portals we may sing: 



RELIGIOUS ASPECTS AND CUSTOMS OF GERMANY. 1 53 

"I would not live alway ; no — welcome the tomb ; 
Since Jesus hath lain there, I dread not its gloom, 
There sweet be my rest till he bid me arise, 
To hail him in triumph descending the skies." 

As I gazed upon the body as it was being rapidly con- 
sumed, I was impressed with the power of God which 
could create an element that so quickly reduced to 
apparent nothingness the once splendid temple of the hu- 
man body, the noblest work of the Creator. "Know that 
the Lord is God alone ; He can create and He destroy.'' 
But this impression was increased as my imagination, with 
little effort, recalled the "fiery furnace" of old, heated 
seven times hotter than it was wont, into which the three 
Hebrew children were thrown, and who yet, because of the 
presence of one who had the form of the Son of God, came 
out without even the smell of fire upon their garments. 



CHAPTER VIL 



GERMAN CITIES. 

NOTES BY THE WAY. 

I had been in Germanybut a few months when I made 
an interesting tour through the northeastern part of the 
Empire, and I propose to give in this chapter a brief ac- 
count of what I saw of a "noteworthy" character. Leav- 
ing Coburg at two o'clock P. M., my first ride was through 
the celebrated Thuringian Mountains, on the border of 
which Coburg is located. The scenery along the route is 
as grand and picturesque as any in the world. And here, 
it is well to remark, that my consular district embraced 
the whole of Thuringia, a section of country about as large 
as an American State, containing no less than eight duchies 
and principalities, prominent among which are Saxe-Co- 
burg and Gotha, Meiningen, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, etc. 
It contains many interesting cities and towns, and is one 
of the greatest manufacturing portions of Germany. Many 
millions of dollars' worth of goods are annually shipped 
from this section to the United States, and consist largely 
of toys, glassware, china and hardware. 

Thuringia also abounds in mineral springs and other 
health resorts, so that when summer comes, here as in 
Switzerland, the hotels are crowded, and multitudes may 
be seen thronging the beautifully graded roads or ascend- 
ing the sublime and everlasting mountains. Mountains in 
Germany are called forests or ivuld-s. Hence we have the 
Thuringian wald, the Schwarz wald, and the Hartz vvald, 
etc. I suppose they are called forests because they are 
covered with trees that are cultivated and kept for timber, 
while the lowlands are all cleared. Forest culture in Ger- 
many is an important branch of industry, and schools of 
high grade are established in many places, having in view 



GERMAN CITIES. I 55 

the fostering of this important enterprise. These schools 
or the industry itself, dates back many centuries, and but 
for the labors of these cultured but hardy mountaineers, 
there would be absolutely no timber in all that land to- 
day. As it is, no finer timber can be found on the face 
of the earth than that in the forests of Germany. It forms 
an important export trade with Holland and other ship- 
building countries, the tall pines of Thuringia being 
regarded especially valuable for that purpose. The for- 
esters are devoted to their calling, and wear a conspicuous 
green uniform, with a leaf worked into the lapel of their 
coats as a badge of their office. They have their societies 
and general meetings; and a large congress of foresters 
from all parts of the empire was held in Coburg just be- 
fore I left. 

The trains, after leaving Coburg. run for several miles 
along the banks of the Werra, one of the famous rivers in 
Germany, and yet, how small it is. The railroad is called 
the Werra " Eisenbahn," that is, iron road (they call 
things by their right name in Germany). One of the 
finest steamers on the German line to New York is the 
Werra, and yet the Werra in this country would be called 
a creek, as it is only a few feet wide. 

Coburg is " beautifully situated on the Itz," we read, 
but it is so narrow you can almost jump across it. We 
have heard much of Frankfort on the Main, but it is a very 
small stream. And the famous river on which Berlin is 
situated is not worth the name. But the case is quite 
different when we come to speak of the Rhine, Danube 
or Elbe. These are rivers indeed, that compare favorably 
with any in the world. 

At 5 o'clock we reached Eisenach, elsewhere described 
in these notes, a beautiful city of tv/enty-two thousand, 
situated in the midst of the mountains, on one of whose 
lovely hills stands the famous Wartburg Castle, where 
Martin Luther was confined on his return from Worms. 
There is his room with his chair and writing desk just as 
he left it, where for eleven months he toiled on his trans- 
lation of the Bible, playing at the same time the character 
of "Junker George." On the wall may be seen the ink 



156 EUROPEAN NOTES, 

spot where he broke the bottle in throwing it at the 
" devil," which his excited imagination had created. Near 
by, on one of tlie streets of Eisenach is the house of "Frau 
Cotta," with whom he boarded when going to school as a 
boy. I felt that I was specially privileged in the fact that 
I was located while in Germany in the very cradle of the 
Reformation, and found all around, at almost every turn, 
relics of the great Reformer. Since my return to America, 
and in the month of N.)vember, 1883, the four hundredth 
anniversary of his birth was celebrated, and I regretted 
that I could not be in Germ my to witness the wonderful 
festivities that toi^k place. Additional monuments were 
erected and unveiled. Every city was decorated with 
flags and lighted up with bonfires, and the Crown Prince 
of the Empire left his palace at Berlin and went to Wit- 
tenberg to place a chaplet on his grave. Surely, this was 
high honor for the monk of Erfurt, an honor to which 
Leo, and Cajetanus, and Charles V. and his other perse- 
cutors could never have aspired. There is no name on 
the page of German history so revered to-day as that of 
Martin Luther. 

Leaving Eisenach, we soon came to Gotha, one of the 
residences of Duke Ernest In my account of the ducal 
family of Coburg, I described this place, and so pass on 
to Erfurt, the largest city in my district, containing about 
60,000 souls, and many objects of interest. We next pass 
Weimar, population 20,000, the residence of the Grand 
Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who is a brother-in law 
of Emperor William. This was the home of Goethe, and 
his house is still shown there, all furnished as he left it. 
Some one has said that the English Parnassus has twin 
peaks u,pon its summit, Shakespeare and Milton. The 
same may be said of Germany, but in this case the twin 
peaks are Goethe and Schiller. They were magnificent 
geniuses, and their works have shed an undying lustre on 
the literature of their country. We reached Leipsic at a 
late hour, and stopped at the celebrated hotel Hauffe. 

LEIPSIC. 

There are few cities in Europe which have more interest 



GERMAN CITIES. 157 

for Americans than this, and it is worthy of a conspicu- 
ous place in these Notes. I spent several days there on 
my first visit, returned several months afterwards to attend 
the great annual Fair, and again took part in the Fourth 
of July celebration before described, Leipsic is remark- 
able for many things. It is situated a little north of the 
central part of the empire, and has a population of i6o,- 
ooo, having increased more rapidly in the number of its 
inhabitants than any other place in Germany. In 1834 
the population was only 45,000. That makes it about 
equal in the rapidity of its growth to some of our western 
towns. It is the centre of the book trade for Germany, a 
position it has occupi d for many years. There are about 
three hundred booksellers' =.tores and sixty printing offices ; 
and publishers in other parts of Germany always have 
depots in Leipsic whence books are shipped to all parts 
of the world. I found some " old book'' stores there 
worthy of the name, and bought two or three at the small 
sum of seventy five cents and a dollar, which were printed 
three hundred years ago. 

Leipsic is the seat of one of the greatest Universities 
in Europe, and it is this fact that has made it so well 
known to Americans. This University has one hundred 
and si.xty professors, and three thousand two hundred 
students, who come from all parts of the world. The 
buildings which I visited and thoroughly inspected, are 
situated in the midst of the city, convenient to hotels, 
stores and places of amusement. 

The city contains many art galleries, all open to the 
visitor for a trifling fee, and giving him the opportunity of 
viewing the* greatest pieces of the greatest masters, par- 
ticularly those of the chief modern schools. It was here 
that I saw Mackarc's greatest works. Here is located the 
finest Conservatory of Mu:>ic on the continent, and I had 
the pleasure of an introduction to the distinguished Di- 
rector, and a seat with him at dinner. 

Leipsic is renowned as the seat of the great Fair, which 
twice ayearattracts merchants from all parts of the world. 
As early as 1180 markets were held here biennially, and 
in the fifteenth century attained to great importance. 



158 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Maximilian confirmed the privileges of the town by pro- 
hibiting markets to be held at any town within a com- 
peting distance. These fairs are attended by a vast con- 
course of merchants* estimated at from thirty to forty 
thousand, from all parts of Europe and the East, embrac- 
ing Jews, Greeks, Bulgarians, Armenians and Turks. The 
most important of the commodities are furs, of which five 
million dollars' worth change hands annually. The total 
value of the sales averages fifty million dollars. 

I visited a room in a restaurant there which is kept as 
a sort of museum, which Goethe used to frequent for 
eating and drinking purposes. Here I beheld the chair, 
tables and drinking cups of the great poet, but what was 
far more interesting, I saw the mural paintings placed on 
the walls centuries ago, which Goethe so often gazed up- 
on, and which suggested to him the characters in Faust. 
All that is necessary to get a view of this interesting 
place is to buy a five cent cigar. 

I took great interest in visiting the scene of the great- 
est battle on record, between the allied powers and Na- 
poleon, when 450,000 men were engaged, and fifty thou- 
sand left dead upon the field. The historical incident is 
perhaps familiar to my readers. Napoleon was overrun- 
ning all Europe, and kingdom after kingdom was yield- 
ing to his victorious arms. Three emperors proceeded to 
Potsdam, and visiting the tomb of Frederick the Great, 
knelt before it and swore a united and determined hos- 
tility to Napoleon until his power should be broken. The 
result of that vow we see in the terrible battle of Leipsic, 
"the bloodiest picture in the book of time." I visited 
the spot where 25,000 French prisoners were taken, and 
where the brave Count Poniatowsky was drowned. A 
monument on the river's bank marks the spot. 

Great as Germany is in painting, I think our country 
can furnish better photographic artists. I tried all day at 
Leipsic to have my picture taken, and when the photo- 
graphs were sent to me, they were so poor I was ashamed 
of them. They resembled the patent medicine picture 
in the newspapers, called "before taking." 

The churches of Leipsic are not especially interesting. 



GERMAN CITIES, 1 59 

With the exception of the Nicolaikirche, which contains, 
built into its walls, some cannon balls taken from the battle 
field of 1813, and which has a stone pulpit from which 
Luther is said to have preached. The sexton gave me a 
small, very old volume containing the Lutheran articles 
of faith as drawn up by the great Reformer. 

Leipsic is said to have been once a Sclavonic settlement, 
and called Lipz.k, or the " town of the lime trees." And 
this leads to the remark, that the lime tree is greatly 
prized in Germany for purposes both of ornament and 
shade. Hohenlinden means the "high lime trees.'' " Unter 
den Lmden'^ the name of the great street in Berlin, means 
"under the lime trees," etc. They take the place of our 
elms, maples and wide-spreading live oaks, and seem to 
be a favorite from the North Sea to Switzerland. One of 
the most frequented places about Lucerne, for example, 
was that called the "drei Linden" — the three lime trees, 
whose wide-spreading branches afforded a welcome pro- 
tection to those who stood beneath and gazed on the 
beauties of the lake that lay sleeping below, and the 
mountains that towered above. 

DRESDEN. 

Having spent several days in Leipsic, I proceeded to 
Dresden, the capital of Saxony, a beautiful city with a 
population of 212,000, charmingly situated on the river 
Elbe, and only three hours' ride from Leipsic. Of all the 
cities in Germany this is the favorite v/ith Americans, and 
there is a large and handsome section of the city known 
as the English and American quarter, where wealthy 
people, "English lords and ladies," and American "high- 
flyers," live in almost royal magnificence. 

I stopped at the Bellevue Hotel, the most noted cara- 
vansary in the place, which is located right on the bank 
of the river not far from the old bridge. Here I saw 
several Americans. In the morning, as a gentleman and 
two ladies mounted their splendid steeds for a morning 
ride, with numerous servants in attendance, the mana- 
ger remarked, pointing to the trio, "That is the way your 
American people spend money over here." Of all tour- 



l6o EUROPEAN NOTES. 

ists who visit the celebrated resorts of the Old World, 
none are so lavish in their expenditures as Americans. It 
is a well known fact that the principal obstacle in the way 
of pleasant, and even economical traveling abroad, is the 
enormous system of feeing, to which all must submit or 
be tabooed, and often humiliated, and sometimes involved 
in difficulties with the persistent extortioners. At a 
hotel, for example, you must fee the dining-room servants, 
or you will get nothing to eat ; and the head waiter and 
cook, or you will be deprived of the choice viands ; and 
the bell boy, or he will not answer ; and the "boots," or 
your "stiefel" will go unpolished ; and the chambermaid, 
or your room will not be swept and slops emptied ; and 
last of all and dearest of all, the "portier,'' who expects 
not less than a dollar or a dollar and a quarter. Some of 
these "portiers'' pay large sums tor the privilege of their 
positions. The "portier" at a hotel in Berlin, for exam- 
ple, I was told, paid $5,000 for his position, and still made 
thousands. The office of the "portier'' is to receive you, 
assign your rooms, attend to your baggage, give you di- 
rections about routes, prices, etc.; in a word, do every- 
thing a proprietor does in this country. (You never get 
sight of the proprietor of an European hotel.) All these 
fees are in addition to the regular prices, and are a terri- 
ble tax on travelers. Now, it is said that Americans have 
had much to do in creating and extending this state of 
things. Having made their fortunes in this country, often 
on "codfish," pork, tobacco, or by "striking oil," they go 
to Europe to spend it, and they do it with a lavish hand. 
They always call for first-class accommodations, cut first- 
class swells and pay first-class prices. Take the velvet 
cushioned "first class" coupes, for example, on railroads. 
It has grown into a proverb there that they are used only 
"by princes, Americans and fools.'' The "portier" de- 
tecting as soon as I spoke a single word that I was an 
American, assigned me to a first-class room, calling out 
lustily as soon as the hack drove up, ''Zwei and sebsich^'' 
(72). I had been in my room but a little while, when a ser- 
vant brought me an elegant colored photograph collection 
of the fine paintings I was to see next day in the world- 



GERMAN CITIES. l6l 

renowned gallery. After supper, I amused myself no 
little in examining these pictures, the originals of which I 
was to enjoy to my heart's content. 

After a delicious night's repose, I arose next morning 
and saw that the day was fine and everything propitious. 
Going down to breakfast, I was waited upon in royal style, 
and sat at a table right on the bank of the Elbe, surround- 
ed by flowers and shrubbery that must have been arranged 
in imitation of some of the rich scenes on the Nile. 

After breakfast, I proceeded to the picture gallery 
which has made Dresden famous wherever art is known 
and appreciated. This is in the Museum, a handsome 
edifice in the "Renaissance'' style, one of the finest exam- 
ples of modern architecture. On a substructure of blocks 
of freestone rises the vast oblong building, consisting of 
two principal stories, with a lofty "portcullis'' in the 
centre, surmounted by a cupola. The Museum forms the 
north-east wing of ihe Zwinger, which has six pavilions 
coimected by a gallery of one story, enclosing an oblong 
court 128 yards long and 117 yards wide. The picture 
gallery occupied the first and second floors of the Muse- 
um, and now ranks with the Louvre in Paris, and the 
Pitti and Uffizi in Florence. I went from school to- 
school, and from room to room, and saw all this wonder- 
ful collection, consisting of the greatest pieces of the 
greatest masters, and costing millions of dollars, but my 
language is powerless to describe them. The pictures of 
the great Venetian masters rank among the choicest 
treasures of the gallery. The " Tribute Money,'' by Ti- 
tian, a grand work of his early period, is one of the most 
nobly conceived and admirably executed paintings ever 
produced. The portrait of his daughter Lavinia, and that 
of an unknown personage, are also very fine. Palma Vec- 
chio's "Venus" and the "Three Graces" are said to be 
the finest works of this great delineator of ripe Venetian 
beauty. Paul Veronese flourishes here. No other gallery 
in the world possesses so many of his gorgeous master- 
pieces. The Spanish school is represented among other 
fine paintings by the " Elderly Man" of Velasquez, and. 
the " Madonna and Child" of Murillo. The French school 

n 



l62 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

is represented by leading masters, but I was particularly 
struck with two landscapes by Claude Lorraine. The 
Netherlandish school, particularly of the 17th century, is 
represented by many gorgeous and magnificent speci- 
mens. Peter Paul Rubens, the great master of the Flem- 
ish school, whose house I afterward visited at Antwerp, 
may be studied here to great advantage. Some of his 
popular pieces seen here are portraits of his sons, the 
" Herodias," "The Garden of Love," "The Boar Hunt," 
" Bathsheba," "Entry of Lifant Ferdinand into Antwerp," 
etc. Rubens luxuriates, so to speak, in all the great Eu- 
ropean galleries, and he was particularly fond of painting 
his wives, whom he always makes his Madonnas, his Graces 
and his Venuses. He certainly loved his wives, but I 
think he was too fond of exposing them on canvas. The 
Dutch school is also well represented in this collection, 
my favorite among whose masters is unquestionably Rem- 
brandt. The portrait of his wife, the portrait of himself 
with his wife on his knee, "Samson's Riddle," "Manoah's 
Sacrifice," and the picture of an old man, will attract the 
attention of visitors. 

The Germ.an school is, of course, represented by many 
fine paintings, but it is not equal to the others. Holbein's 
portrait of Morett, Durer's "Crucifixion" and the winged 
altar-piece, and several pieces by Lucas Cranach, the 
friend of Martin Luther, are worthy of special mention. 
But last and most attractive of all, the great masters of 
the golden period of Italian art are admirably represent- 
ed. The "Herodias" of Leonardo da Vinci, the famous 
little picture of the "Magdalene" by Correggio, and several 
others, but prepared the way for viewing the finest paint- 
ing in the world, here shown in an elegant chapel to itself 
— namely, the Sistine Madonna, Raphael's masterpiece. 
The radi\nt magnificence of this painting in which the 
most bewitching beauty is coupled with the charm of the 
mysterious vision, will forcibly impress every beholder, 
and the longer he gazes the more he will be delighted. 
This picture is an altar-piece, eight feet high and six feet 
wide, and painted for the church of the Black Friars at 
Placenzia. The Virgin and Child are in clouds with St. Six- 



GERMAN CITIES. 163 

tus on the right, St Barbara on the left, and two cherubs 
beneath. Of this painting, Prof. John Auton Springer says : 
"A curtain has just been drawn back, and the Virgin issues, 
as it were, from the depths of heaven, awe-inspiring, sol- 
emn and serene, her large eyes embracing the world in 
their gaze. The idea of a sudden revelation of the hither 
to concealed mystery could not be more effectively ex- 
pressed, The attention is usually concentrated on the 
Madonna and the two cherubs below, pictures of inno- 
cence. The saints, however, should not be overlooked. 
Contrasted in age and sex, expression and movement, they 
supplement each other with admirable effect. Both must 
be thought of in connection with the whole community of 
Christians ; the reverent and pious Sixtus commends him- 
self to the Virgin's mercy ; the beaming face of St. Barba- 
ra represents the joyful enthusiasm of the redeemed." It 
must be remembered that the man who wrote these words 
was a Catholic, but how wonderful must be the work of the 
artist when all, Catholics and Protestants alike, and men of 
no religion whatever, gaze upon it with indescribable 
rapture ! 

The picture gallery occupied my attention for about 
two days, and at intervals I visited the Museum of Casts, 
which resemble collections found in all other museums ; 
the Johannes Museum, and other objects in the vicinity 
of the Zwinger. I was much interested in the collection 
of porcelain, consisting of 15,000 specimens of Chinese, 
Japanese, Indian, French and Dresden workmanship. 
The Dresden china, from the first attempts of Bottiger, 
the inventor, down to the present day, and the modern 
European products of Sevres, Berlin, etc., form by far the 
most interesting feature of the collection. 

Part of one day I devoted to the celebrated Green 
Vault, which contains one of the most valuable collections 
of curiosities, jewels, trinkets and small works of art, in 
the world. The goldsmith's art is represented here as it 
is perhaps nowhere else in the world, while the enamels 
of Limoges and the specimens of ivory and crystal cutting 
astonish all who see them. Here I saw two horses' heads 
made of ivory, by Mfchael Angelo ; musicians fighting, by 



164 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Albert Durer ; crucifix with Madonna, by Paruzzi ; Fall of 
the Angels, in ninety-two figures carved out of a single 
mass of ivory 16 inches in height ; and many other curi- 
osities too numerous to mention. Room No. 4 is called 
the "Green Vault,'' from the color of its walls, and con- 
tains innumerable vessels of silver and gold. In another 
room were figures of nearly all descriptions, wrought out 
of pearls and precious stones. The most valuable part of 
the collection consists of jewels — a green diamond, weigh- 
ing five and a half ounces set as a hat clasp, and costing 
$300,000 ; a ladies' bow, with 662 diamonds, worth $1,000,- 
000; the largest onyx in existence, seven inches in height. 
In one of the cases I saw the large set rings of Luther 
and Melancthon, In one case I was shown the complete 
regalia of Poland, consisting of innumerable jewels of cost- 
liest value. The Green Vault is a wonderful place, and, 
as may be supposed, is well protected by strong guards 
over each case, and stationed "at every turn and corner." 
Dresden is distinguished for its beautiful environs, but 
I caught a glimpse of them only, as the train passed going 
to and out of the city. 

BERLIN. 

My description of Berlin must necessarily be meagre. 
It is one of the great capitals of the world, competing with 
Vienna for the third place among the great cities of Eu- 
rope, and contains 1,100,000 inhabitants. If you were to 
ask me how it looks, I would say it looks very much like 
New York, as it contains about the same number of in- 
habitants, is quite compactly built, and having grown to 
its present importance during the past decade, has more 
modern built houses than any great city in Europe, it is 
situated on the Spree, which is navigable as far as Poland. 
As is well known, it is the residence of William I., who is 
both King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany ; all the 
chief German of^cers also reside here. It is an important 
centre of the railway system of Germany, one of the fore- 
most seats of commerce in the country, and the greatest 
manufacturing town in Continental Europe. The princi- 
pal branches of industry are engine-building, brewing, 



GERMAN CITIES. l6$ 

dyeing, the artistic handicrafts, and the manufacture of 
silken and woolen goods and fancy articles. What lady 
who knows anything of crochet work is not familiar with 
"Berlin wool?" Here you see it in all its perfection, and 
at very cheap prices. 

Arriving at the depot, after a six hours' ride from Dres- 
den, I secured a hack and proceeded to the Kaiser Hof, 
the grandest hotel in the city, resembling in appearance 
the Windsor hotel of New York. Alighting from the 
hack, I was met by the inevitable " portier," who spoke 
several languages — in this case, excellent English. He 
conducted me to the register, and then to an elegant room, 
where, with the evidences of comfort and elegance around 
me, I felt quite happy. I soon strolled down the street 
on which the hotel is located, and into "Friederich strasse," 
one of the most prominent business thoroughfares, and 
saw at a glance that Berlin was a grand city, deserving all 
the reputation it has abroad. The stores are beautiful to 
behold, and it was refreshing to see in nearly every win- 
dow a card hanging, with the legend, " English spoken." 
The chief objects of interest were all that I had time to 
see during the few days that I remained, and I proceeded 
at once to the work before me. 

I visited first Bismarck's house, on "Wilhelm strasse," 
not far from my hotel. It is a plain, but very large, brick 
structure, two stories and a half high, with an immense 
court in front. The chancellor was absent, and I had a 
good opportunity to view the residence of the man who 
stands to-day the foremost diplomatist in the world — the 
real power behind the German throne. Bismarck is now 
an old man, but "his eye is yet undimmed and his natural 
force unabated.'' When 1 was living at Coburg, a violent 
excitement arose in opposition to his internal policy all 
over the Empire, and he fought his battle with as much 
zeal and industry as if he had been a candidate for Con- 
gress in an American State. One of his measures was the 
establishment of a government monopoly for tobacco. 
This the Germans, who are very fond of smoking and 
want cheap and good cigars, bitterly opposed. At that 
time he would stand in the German parliament and speak 



1 66 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

without exhaustion two and three hours at a time. While 
the Germans reverence Bismarck as a diplomat, they do 
not indorse his management of the internal affairs of the 
empire. But there is no denying the fact that he is among 
the greatest of men, and will live in history by the side of 
Talleyrand, Cavour, Beaconsfield, Metternich and Glad- 
stone, and perhaps be pronounced the greatest of them 
all. It was something for me to visit the home of such a 
man, and see the room, chair and table where he devised 
these schemes which have shaken empires and overthrown 
governments. 

I next went to the headquarters of Count Moltke. He, 
too, was absent ; but I walked through his "war depart- 
ment" and saw many interesting things connected with 
the world's greatest living Captain. Moltke, too, is an 
old man, over seventy, but neither he nor Bismarck have 
asked to be retired on a pension. There is no country on 
earth kept on such a war footing as Germany, the whole 
empire being filled with camps and training schools, five 
hundred thousand men being all the while under arms. Of 
all this vast host, Moltke, the hero of the Franco-Prussian 
war, is the presiding and directing genius. 

Near the army headquarters is the statue of Victory, 
consisting of an immense column, as tall, perhaps, as the 
Vendome Column in Paris, with a large, more than life 
size statue of the Goddess of Liberty on the top. It has 
bas relief sVditnes, of Count Moltke, Prince Bismarck and 
other prominent actors in the war of 1870, and it must be 
a scene on which a Frenchman gazes with any other than 
pleasurable emotions. 

Not far from the statue of Victory, I viewed the cele- 
brated panorama of the battle of Gravelotte, the most 
hotly contested of the whole campaign of '70, and this 
panorama is well worth seeing ; for it comes about as near 
being a correct representation of a great battle as human 
art can produce. Indeed, nature and art are so combined 
to produce the wonderful effect, that it is impossible to tell 
where the natural ends and where the artificial begins. 
An immense building, resembling the "round house'' of 
our railroad shops, is specially devoted to the exhibition 
of this sreat work of art. 



GERMAN CITIES. 167 

Within a few steps of the statue of Victory is the 
world-renowned Brandenburg gate, built in imitation of the 
Propylasa at Athens, 85 feet in height and 205 in width, 
and with five different passages, that in the centre being 
for royal carriages The structure is surmounted by a 
Quadriga of Victory, in copper, by Schadow, taken to 
Paris by Napoleon in 1808, but restored in 18 14, after the 
fall of the great French general. 

The things I have just described are in the vicinity of 
the Thiergarten (zoological garden) which competes with 
that of London in importance. Passing through the 
Brandenburg gate, I entered the celebrated 'Unter der 
Linden,'' the handsomest street in Berlin, perhaps the 
handsomest in the world, the Champs Elysees of Paris 
only excepted. "Unter der Linden" is the long line of 
street extending from the Brandenburg gate to the Royal 
Palace, a distance of one mile. This street is 196 feet 
wide, and derives its name from the avenues of lime 
trees, interspersed with cnestnuts, with wliich it is adorned, 
which makes it resemble the Boulevards of Paris. It is 
flanked with handsome palaces, spacious hotels and at- 
tractive stores. The whole length of this beautiful street 
I walked, stopping occasionally to look at the bewitching 
and unique goods in the stores, or glance over the regis- 
ters of the hotels, or gaze at some work of art on stone, or 
canvas, or wood. At the corner of Paris Place is a beauti- 
ful palace belonging to Count Radern, in which there is a 
grand collection of paintings by Netherlandish masters. 
Next comes the residence of the Minister of Religion and 
Education, that being a department of the government 
there, like — that is, in grade — the Department of the In- 
terior here, for example. Next to this is the palace of 
the Russian Embassy, and on further, the residences of 
other govern^Tient celebrities. 

I next approached a grand aquarium, filled with all 
kinds of fi.^h, with which is connected a collection of birds, 
animals, etc. I now came to the Passage, or Kaiser Gal- 
lery, which leads to the corner of Frederick street. These 
passages or arcades are to be found in nearly all the large 
cities of Europe, and 1 should be very happy to see them 



l68 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

in American cities. They are the nicest places for shop- 
ping of which it is possible to conceive, and it is shopping 
"within doors," for it is all under cover, and everything 
fixed up in parlor style. Passing several other attractive 
Jtuildings. I came to the statue of Frederick the Great, by 
all odds the finest equestrian statue in Europe. The great 
king is represented on horseback, with his coronation 
robes and his walking stick. The pedestal is divided into 
three sections. The upper section contains allegorical 
figures and scenes from Frederick's domestic life, with 
figures of Moderation, Justice, Wisdom and Strength. 
And now I wonder if Georgia did not receive the motto 
on her coat of arms, which is, "Wisdom, Justice, Modera- 
tion," from the apotheosis of Frederick the Great ? 

To the right of this statue is the palace of the Emperor, 
which I entered, and had the pleasure of inspecting every 
room, every piece of furniture, every work of art, and it 
was a privilege not soon to be forgotten. The reception 
room is about 75 yards in length. The dining room seats 
700 people, but the Emperor and his Empress, when no 
distinguished guests are present, generally take their meals 
at a small table which is large enough for only tvv^o. In 
one room is the "council table," around which the Empe- 
ror and Bismarck sit when deliberating on great State 
questions. 

William I. is a great man, and will occupy a conspicuous 
place in the history of the world. He is eighty-seven 
years old, but still discharges the duties of his exalted 
position, and even goes into the field when the troops are 
called out for review, or the "autumn manoeuvres." The 
Germans reverence him, and look upon him as the father 
of their country. 

Within a square of the Emperor**s palace is the palace 
of the Crown Prince, soon to be Emperor, in the natural 
course of things, when an English lady. Queen Victoria's 
oldest daughter, will be the Empress. 

On the opposite side of the street, 1 viewed the great 
University, which has annuaUy about 4,000 students. 
Many Americans were in attendance, some of whom I met. 

I visited the royal library, which contained some inter- 



GERMAN CITIES. 1 69 

esting curiosities among its 900,000 volumes and 15,000 
manuscripts. Among these were the first impressions of 
Luther's translation of the Bible, Melancthon's report of 
the Diet of Worms, Gutenberg's Bible on parchment of 
1450, the first book printed with movable types, minia- 
tures by Lucas Cranach, Luther's artist friend, etc. 

I crossed the Palace Bridge over the Spree, which is one 
of the most beautiful bridges in the world, adorned with 
all the embellishments of art, particularly with eight 
groups of marble, illustrative of the life of a warrior. Vic- 
tory first teaches a boy the history of the heroes ; Minerva 
instructs the youth in the use of weapons ; Minerva pre- 
sents the combatant with arms ; Victory crowns the con- 
queror ; Victory raises the wounded warrior; Minerva ex- 
cites him to a new conquest ; Minerva protects and aids a 
combatant, and Iris conducts the victorious fallen warrior 
to Olympus. These groups are all by the greatest masters, 
and are all full life size. To the left beyond the bridge, is 
a beautiful park with a statue of Frederick William IIL 

I next came to the Royal Palace, perhaps the largest 
and most imposing in Europe, built in the form of a rect- 
angle, six hundred and fifty feet in length and three 
hundred and eighty feet in depth, enclosing two larger 
and two smaller courts. It rises in four stories to the 
height of one hundred feet, while the dome is two hun- 
dred and thirty feet in height. The whole contains over 
six hundred rooms, and these are all furnished in the most 
royal style, while the walls are adorned with the finest 
paintings that the greatest artists of Europe could produce. 

This immense pile was begun about 1450, and one king 
after another has added to it until it has reached its pres- 
ent proportions. In the time of Frederick the Great all 
the royal family resided in the palace, but now only Prince 
Frederick Charles and Prince Leopold have apartments 
there. The palace looks sombre and gloomy, and is really 
the great haunted house, so terrible to Prussian kings. 
There is a "ghost story" associated with the palace to this 
effect : Whenever a death in the Hohenzollern family is to 
occur, a white lady appears to portend the same. The 
apparition is said to have appeared last in February, 1840, 



170 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

in this palace, and Frederick William III. died soon after. 
It is thought Emperor William's time will be next, as he 
is now 87 years old, and the spectre is thought likely to 
appear at any time. This "white lady" is said to be the 
ghost of the Countess Agnes of Orlamunde, who murder- 
ed her two children, that she might be enabled to marry 
the Burggrave Albert of Nuremberg, ancestor of the elec- 
tors of Brandenburg. 

It is astonishing how superstitious people are, the world 
over, about ghosts. While I write, the people of Macon 
are intensely excited over an apparition which nightly 
appears near the Fair Grounds, and the spot is visited by 
hundreds, some of whom fancy it looks like a child, others 
that it looks like a bride, while others think it resembles a 
sack of flour, all to the amusement of some fellow in a 
contiguous house, perhaps, who with a looking-glass or 
other "magic" contrivance, is throwing a human shaped 
white light into the midst of the wondering multitude. 
But the Bible tells of ghosts ; and Shakespeare tells of 
ghosts "doomed for a certain time to walk the night," and 
of others that "did squeak and gibber in the Roman 
streets," and our nurses all told us of ghosts in our child- 
hood, and perhaps it is well enough to let people occa- 
sionally indulge their penchant for the mysterious. 

Near the palace, one of the finest buildings in Berlin 
appears in the shape of the "Old Museum," and at the 
back of this the "New Museum," each of which would 
require a month to be examined carefully. Connected 
with these is the "Picture Gallery," the mere nucleus of 
which was purchased of Mr. Solby, an Englishman, for 
$750,000, the whole collection now being worth millions. 
The "National Gallery,'' which will soon rank with that of 
Dresden, contains one of the finest collections of paintings 
in the world. The modern paintings especially are very 
fine. 

Near this place I visited a great curiosity in the way of 
art. It was the Annual Art Exhibition of modern paint- 
ings by the great living artists. The building which 
contains this monster collection covered four acres ; the 
Exhibition lasted four months, and the pictures were gen- 
erally for sale. 



GERMAN CITIES. 171 

To see all that I have here described, of course, took 
several days, well employed, and I soon found Sunday 
upon me. All the great galleries and art collections are 
open on Sunday, and it is generally "free day," but I 
preserved my American habits and concluded to spend 
Sunday in the churches. 

At nine o'clock I noticed that there would be services at 
the Baptist church. Securing a hack, I proceeded to the 
church on a somewhat retired street, where I found a good 
congregation, worshipping very much as our Baptist 
congregations worship in this country, but using a very 
different language. I next proceeded to the American 
chapel, which, at eleven o'clock, I found filled with a large, 
elegant looking congregation of American and English 
people, while the services were conducted by a minister 
from Rhode Island, who preached a very good sermon. 
Going into the church, I met some of my fellow passen- 
gers of the "City of Chester," and enjoyed a pleasant re- 
union. The services being over, I formed the acquaint- 
ance of the minister, who was temporarily sojourning at 
Berlin, and belonged at home to the Congregationalists. 
I also met some American students, among the number a 
son of the late Dr. T. V. Moore, of Nashville, who was 
there as a student of theology. 

There were many otherthings in Berlin which I greatly 
enjoyed, such as fine churches, parks, drives, etc., but I 
cannot dwell upon all. The Conservatory of Music here 
is very celebrated and ranks with that of Leipsic. And 
here, as may be supposed, you have every opportunity 
for hearing good music. In the parks, in the elegant beer 
gardens, in the splendid halls fitted up for the purpose, 
you can be nightly regaled with the finest productions of 
Bach, Beethoven, Strauss, Wagner and Brahms. 

After all, Berlin is called a dull place, compared with 
Paris or Vienna. We shall see what Paris and Vienna 
are further on. In the meantime, we can but admire the 
stately buildings, wide and lovely streets, great factories, 
towering palaces and magnificent art displays of the great 
German capital. 



1/2 EUROPEAN NOTES. 



A DAY IN POTSDAM. 



Potsdam, a city of 46,000 inhabitants, sixteen miles from 
Berlin, the summer home of the Prussian kings, to be seen 
in all its glory, should be seen in summer. I was com- 
pelled to visit it in October, and October in Northern Ger- 
many is a cold month. The day that I spent in Potsdam 
was one of the coldest I ever experienced, and yet I was 
clad as warmly as the heaviest winter clothing could make 
me. Flannels are always worn in Germany, and I have 
found them quite comfortable in July. In the coldest 
weather two overcoats are worn, the ordinary overcoat, 
such as we wear in this country, and over this the " Kai- 
ser mantle," a large, loose, long, heavy garment with a 
cape. Many of the people wear overcoats lined through- 
out with sealskin, otter, rabbit and other furs; and with 
all these, it is sometimes difficult to keep warm in winter. 
My " Kaiser mantle" I brought back to America with 
me, but I have had but little use for it here. 

On this journey to Potsdam I was in company with 
three intelligent Scotchmen, whose acquaintance I had 
formed at the "-Kaiser Hof," and I found them most agree- 
able companions, who added no little to the interest of 
the visit. 

We left Berlin early in the morning, and reached the 
station at Potsdam in thirty minutes. We found the 
place, even in October, picturesque and beautiful. It has 
wide streets, stately residences, large and handsome parks 
and gorgeous palaces. Carlyle calls Potsdam an "amphib- 
ious town,'' as there is quite as much water there as land, 
built as it is on the arms of the Havel. In giving an ac- 
count of it, I shall speak only of what I saw, and the order 
in which I saw it. Taking a hack, we proceeded first to 
Babelsberg, the picturesque palace of Emperor William, 
situated in the centre of a large park. The Emperor was 
absent at the time, and we were permitted to visit all parts 
of the immense structure — the reception room, parlors, 
dining hall, bed rooms, etc. The walls are adorned with 
beautiful pictures by the great masters, and the furniture 
was such as one might expect to find in the home of such 
a ruler. I was particularly interested in viewing the room 



GERMAN CITIES. 1/3 

where the great king nightly slept. There was the little 
single German bed in which he slept, with the inevitable 
feather bed to cover with. Near his bed stood an ordi- 
nary table, dear to the Emperor because it was made by 
his son, the Crown Prince. Every German must learn a 
trade, and the trade of him who is soon to be Emperor 
of the proud German Empire is that of a cabinet maker. 
This table, perhaps one of the first specimens of his skill, 
is kept here near the Emperor's bed, who thinks there is 
naught in the world equal to " Our Fritz." 

From the top of the palace we had a fine view of Pots- 
dam, Sans-Souct, the Marble Palace, the expanse of the 
Havel, and the woods and hills. A large lake near the 
palace is filled with choice fish, and on its bosom the forms 
of innumerable water-fowls are seen gracefully moving. 
From Babelsberg we proceeded to Sans-Souci, known all 
over the world as the summer home of Frederick the 
Great. Sans-Souci means, " without care," and if there be 
any place in the world deserving of that name it must have 
been this at the time the great Frederick lived there, and 
it was his almost constant residence. It stands also in a 
beautiful park on an eminence above the town, and strange 
to say, is only one story high. It was built for comfort, 
and Frederick, like many other sensible people, had no 
fondness for climbing stair steps. I had always been an 
admirer of Frederick the Great, and classed him with the 
Hannibals, Caesars, Napoleons, Wellingtons and Washing- 
tons of the world. In some respects he was the superior 
of them all ; in many he was the inferior of our own Wash- 
ington. When a boy I heard Edward Everett's great 
eulogy on Washington. In that he compares the Father 
of his country with Frederick the Great. I can never 
forget how reproachfully he spoke when, having drawn a 
picture of the great German, he closed by saying, "This 
is the man who, when he died, requested that he might be 
buried among his dogs at Potsdam." And now I was at 
Potsdam, at Sans-Souci, and standing on the very terraces 
where the graves of these dogs were to be seen. 

On entering the palace, we found the rooms of Frede- 
rick the Great just as he had left them. The main interest 



174 EUROPEAN NOTESo 

of the building consists in the many reminiscences of the 
great founder to be seen. A clock which he was in the 
habit of winding up is said to have stopped at the precise 
moment of his death. His portrait (in his 56th year), by 
Pesne, is said to be the only likeness for which he ever sat. 
The walls are hung with attractive pictures, and the libra- 
ry is adorned with marble busts of celebrated characters. 
The west wing contains a room that was occupied by 
Voltaire, who was a great personal friend of Frederick, 
and spent most of his time at Sans-Souci. French was the 
court language at that time, and Frederick could speak 
and write it as well as he could German, and I have seen 
many of his autograph letters in that language. Near the 
palace is the picture gallery, which has yielded up its finest 
works to the museum at Berlin, but there are many left 
well worth seeing, especially the dozen or more paintings 
by Rubens. 

Near Sans-Sottci stands the historic windmill, which 
but for an incident connected with it, would look sadly 
out of place. When Frederick, with millions at his dis- 
posal, was improvi'-g Sans-Souci^ this old windmill stood 
in the way, owned by a plain but honest man. Frederick 
approached him one morning and told him that he needed 
the site of that mill, but he would pay him for it. The 
man responded that he was attached to his mill, and did 
not wish to part with it. "But," said Frederick, "I will 
give you a large price for it, and must have it.'' The man 
replied, "You are Frederick the Great and King of Prussia, 
and you have millions, but you have not money or power 
enough to take my mill from me, and you cannot get it." 
Frederick, instead of becoming enraged, admired the old 
fellow's pluck, and told him to keep it unmolested, and 
there it has been standirig ever since, the only shabby 
looking thing in that elysian region, and yet an object of 
curious interest to all because of this incident. 

Passing the old windmill, we proceeded to the orange- 
ry, an idea of which can be best conveyed to you, if I tell 
you to imagine a small Florida orange grove under glass. 
It is in the Florentine style, three hundred and thirty yards 
in length. It is a most charming place, containing besides 



GERMAN CITIES. 1/5 

orange trees, many valuable plants and flowers. On the 
terrace — and Sans-Soiici is a place of terraces — are two 
columns with statues of Ceres and Flora, and a copy of 
the Farnese Bull. The central saloon on the ground floor 
contains forty-five copies from Raphael. It was quite a 
delight to examine these, for Raphael, who died young, 
painted but ninety pieces, and here were forty-five, 
said to be exact copies. It is said this orangery, which is 
nothing but a unique palace with an "all-out-doors" con- 
servatory, was built by Frederick William IV., for his 
sister. Queen Catharine of Russia. 

Having left Sans Souci, we called at a restaurant, where 
we secured an elegant repast. After sight-seeing, it is 
astonishing what an appetite one has ; and the exercise 
required in visiting these great objects of interest is just 
the thing to make the blood course hotly through the 
veins and bring back the lost roses to the cheeks. Hence, 
there is no better prescription for an overworked man 
than travel in Europe. Rested and refreshed, we now 
visited the Garrison church, one of the most interesting 
spots in the world to a German, because it holds the re- 
mains of Frederick the Great, and of his father, Frederick 
William I., the founder of the church. Flags captured 
during the Franco-Prussian war are suspended from each 
side of the pulpit, and the tower contains musical bells 
which play every half hour. I entered the vault back of 
the pulpit and was alone with the remains of the illustri- 
ous Frederick and those of his father. They rest in two 
small sarcophagi, and the whole arrangement is exceed- 
ingly simple and unpretending — quite unlike the gorgeous 
tomb of Napoleon, in the Hotel des Invalides in Paris. 
But it was to me, and must be to all, a spot eminently 
solemn and suggestive. All must die, or Frederick the 
strong, the brave, the powerful, would not have left the 
hediWt'xQS oi Sans Soiici ioY this dark abode. The mighty 
King of Prussia, who had conquered kings, must at last 
yield to the King of Terrors. "It is appointed unto all 
men once to die," and Horace beautifully says, "Death 
visits with impartial steps the hovels of the poor and the 
palaces of kings." The grave of Frederick the Great is 



176 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

the trysting spot of the German nation, and the fountain 
of their inspiration. When Napoleon was overrunning all 
Europe with his victorious army, it is said that tliree 
Emperors repaired to Potsdam, entered the Garrison 
church, walked into the vault, and got upon their knees 
before the tomb of Frederick, and there swore that they 
would never rest until they had broken the power of Na- 
poleon. The result of that vow was first seen at Leipsic, 
where Napoleon was defeated by the allies, and subse- 
quently at Waterloo, where he was routed, horse, foot, 
and dragoons. I stood long musing at this grave, and the 
sexton gave me a candle which had been about half burnt 
out over the tomb of the great man, and I have it now, as 
a valuable relic, to show to those who take an interest in 
such things. We drove through and around Potsdam in 
every direction, and feasted our eyes on many a lovely 
scene, too tedious to describe. One object more I will 
mention and then close, jiamely, what is called the new 
palace of Frederick the Great. It was built just after the 
seven years' war, by the great man, for the purpose of 
showing the world that he still had money. This palace 
has two hundred apartments, richly decorated, and those 
occupied by the founder are still preserved unaltered. 
Part of the upper floor is fitted up as a summer residence 
for the Crown Prince, and he and his family were there 
when we entered. The vestibule contains the chairs 
where Frederick's dogs used to sleep. These chairs would 
cost about fifty dollars each, but they were not too good 
for his dogs. The Grotto Saloon is inlaid with shells and 
precious stones. Imagine a room as large as one of our 
largest churches, with pearls, amethysts, opals and sap- 
phires glittering from every square foot in the walls, and 
you will form some idea of the marvelous costliness of 
this building, which, like the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, 
was erected for "the might of his power and for the honor 
of his majesty." The apartments of Frederick remain 
unaltered and contain many reminiscences of the illus- 
trious man. 

Night was upon us, and worn out with viewing the un- 
rivaled objects of interest furnished by Potsdam, we 



GERMAN CITIES. 1/7 

returned to Berlin, congratulating ourselves that we had 
accomplished so much in such a little time. 

NUREMBERG. 

Nuremberg is one of the most interesting old cities in 
Germany or the world, and he who visits the Fatherland 
without seeing it will have much to regret. But there is 
not much danger of neglecting this place, for the foreigner 
is always asked, "Have you seen Nuremberg?" If you 
answer " No," the remark is immediately made, " It is 
sehr interressant." The interest which clings to it in dis- 
tinction from other business centres, is its antiquity, and 
the m.any quaint houses and other relics of the past there 
to be seen. It is a city of the middle ages, and no other 
city is so well calculated to convey an idea of the wealth 
and importance of a mediaeval city as well as the develop- 
ment of art. The place has about 100,000 inhabitants. 
It was mentioned in history as early as 1050, and was the 
residence after of the Emperors Henry IV. and Barba- 
rossa. Until 1806 it was an independent town of the 
empire, but has since belonged to Bavaria. At the 
beginning of the loth century it was the centre of trade. 
between Germany, Venice and the East. At this time it 
attained its highest distinction in the realms of art, Al- 
bert Durer, Wolgemuth, Kulmbach, Adam Krafft and: 
Peter Visscher having flourished there, leaving behind, 
them many monuments of their genius and attainments,, 
which may be seen to-day. It is a well known fact that 
the principles of the Reformation found great favor here,, 
and in 1526 Melancthon founded the gymnasium, which. 
is still in a flourishing condition. 

Since Nuremberg became a Bavarian town it has pros- 
pered greatly, and is now the most important seat of trade- 
and manufacture in South Germany. It was once the 
great toy depot of the world, but Sonneberg is outstripping 
it in that class of goods now. It has innumerable foun- 
dries, and among the great establishments I noticed an 
American stove factory, which is nothing less than a place 
where American stoves are imitated and sold at about one- 
half the price at which they can be made in this country,. 
12 



178 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

It is a fact worth recording that the most popular of our 
American goods are imitated abroad, and at sometimes 
one fourth the cost at which they are made here, owing to 
the cheapness of labor and cost of living there, and yet 
there are those of all political parties who are ever clam- 
oring for free trade. 

There are many fortifications about Nuremberg which 
date from the middle ages, and are still well preserved. 
They consist of a rampart encircling the town, provided 
at different intervals with towers of peculiar shapes, 
and a dry moat thirty- five feet wide and fifty feet deep. 
The town is divided into two nearly equal parts by the 
Pegnitz, which is crossed by several bridges. My hotel, 
the " Bayenscher Hof," the finest in its cias hie and general 
management, though several hundred years old, is situated 
on the banks of the river and near one of the bridges 
which is the "Rialto" of Nuremberg. The Hangman's 
Bridge, leading from the old prisons to the Lawrence side 
of the town, may be called the "Bridge of Sighs." The 
old Burg, or castle, was founded in 1024 by Conrad II., 
and extended by the old red-bearded Emperor Barbarossa. 
In the court is a venerable lime tree, said to have been 
planted by the Empress Canigunde, eight hundred years 
ago. On the east wall of the castle two hoof-shaped 
impressions are shown, which are said to have been left 
by the horse of a robber knight, who was brought here a 
prisoner in the i6th century, but escaped by leaping over 
the moat. The incident gave rise to the sarcastic proverb, 
"The Nurembergers hang no man unless they have caught 
him." (A different proverb would have to be devised for 
Americans.) The well here is 300 feet deep, and candles 
are lowered to show its depth to curious observers. 

A few minutes' walk east of the castle brings us to a 
tower which -contains a Torture Chamber, almost equal to 
the Chamber of Horrors (before described) in Madame 
Tussaud's Gallery in London. It consists of a collection 
of instruments of torture in their original forms, arranged 
progressively, up to the terrible " Iron Virgin," which is 
a hollow figure with projecting knives in the interior, into 
which malefactors were thrust. 



GERMAN CITIES. I79 

Nuremberg has three splendid churches or cathedrals, 
one of which, the St. Lawrence, I attended, and where I 
saw many wonderful works of art, the paintings by Durer 
and the sculpture by Krafft. I visited the museums, but 
they, like all other institutions of the kind, were filled with 
curiosities too numerous to take notes of. The statue and 
residence of Albert Durer, v/ho was to Nuremberg what 
Titian was to Venice, or Rubens to Antwerp, are well 
worth seeing. 

But what was especially interesting to us was walking 
and driving about and over the quaint old city, viewing 
its curiously constructed old German houses, with their 
tile covered, angular-shaped roofs, with their innumerable 
dormer windows. And then the narrow, irregular streets, 
with cobble-stones over which the Teutonic multitudes 
have been tramping for centuries, and on either side of 
these streets unique stores with immense stocks of new 
and elegant goods, the products of their own factories — 
these were the things that most interested us. 

I visited Nuremberg often, but this was an occasion of 
extraordinary interest, for it was the season of the great 
Bavarian Exposition, which began in June, and ended in 
October, and was the largest and finest ever held in Ger- 
many. This Exposition was held in large and beautifully 
ornamented grounds, organized at enormous expense, and 
visited by thousands from all over Germany and the whole 
of Europe. When it is considered what a sphere for 
manufactures, art, etc., Europe is ; and particularly what 
a country Germany is ; and when it is also considered that 
this great Exposition brought together at one place the 
cream of all that was excellent and attractive in commerce 
and industry, you can form a pretty good idea of what a 
magnificent display it was. The buildings themselves 
were as beautiful as good taste and boundless means could 
make them, to say nothing of the glittering wares they 
contained. 

An incident occurred while we were viewing the Expo- 
sition, worthy of note. My family was with me, and in 
going through one of the halls one of our number said, 'T 
do believe there is our duchess,'' alluding to the Duchess 



l80 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

of Coburg, where we lived. On looking, I saw that it was 
our duchess in truth, with two maids of honor, moving 
incogtiito, and at that moment coming towards us. What 
shall I do ? Shall I speak to her? was my first thought. 
I knew that such things were not customary in Germany, 
as it is always proper to be presented when her Grand 
Ducal Highness is to be addressed. But she was traveling 
incog., and I was quite sure I was — she designedly and I 
undesignedly. Yet here were three ladies whom I knew, 
the duchess and her maids of honor. We all lived in the 
same town, and knew each other. Yet she was the wife 
of Duke Ernest, sister-in-law of Queen Victoria and Prince 
Albert, and sister to the Grand Duke of Baden. But I 
was a Consul of the United States, had been presented to 
her highness, and had several times enjoyed the hospi- 
tality of her palace. Why should I not speak? Just then 
meeting, we mutually extended hands, had a " hearty 
shake," and so with each member of my family ; and a 
charming little conversation followed. I never saw her 
more affable and pleasant. 

On going to the large restaurant, we had seats with 
the family of the President of the Ducal Ministry of Co- 
burg, who happened to be there. "I have seen our duch- 
ess," I said to his accomplished daughter. "Impossible," 
said she, "she is not here." "Yes, she is,'' I remarked, 
"for I have seen her and had a conversation with her.'' 
"Why, Mr. Wharton, that is perfectly shocking!" she 
said. "Well," said I, "ask your father, and we will leave 
it to his decision as a point of etiquette." The old gen- 
tleman was appealed to, who said I did perfectly right, 
that I was an officer of the United States government, a 
republican country, and that I had already been received 
at court, and meeting each other unawares, it was right 
and proper to speak and talk with her highness. I felt 
considerably relieved, for knowing the punctiliousness of 
these court observances, I was a little ill at ease for a few 
moments after the pleasant interview occurred. A day 
or two afterwards, the duchess passed our house at Co- 
burg, and gave a low graceful bow and most cordial smile. 



GERMAN CITIES. l8l 

when I knew that "honors were easy," and that I was ^'rec- 
tus in curiaP 

This same duchess, by the way, is one of the purest, 
best and noblest of earth's women, and I trust that she 
may long live to be the ornament of the Coburg house 
and the benefactress of her loving and devoted subjects. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



GERMAN DRINKS. 

BEER. 

Beer is of course drank in the United States, and the 
appetite for it seems to be ever on the increase. Hun- 
dreds of breweries have been established all over the land, 
and some of them, as in Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, 
Milwaukee, New York and Philadelphia, are very cele 
brated, not only for the quantity but for the character of 
the beer made by them. But one really knows nothing 
about the enormous consumption of this beverage until 
he visits Germany, the "fatherland," in an especial sense, 
of beer. Even the breweries in the United States have 
resulted from, and are owned and sustained by the Ger- 
man population. As the ancient heathen emigrants 
always carried their gods with them, so the Germans, go 
where they will, must ever have their favorite beverage, 
beer. In Germany the very soil is tilled that its products 
may be converted into beer, and the very rivers seem 
almost diverted from their channels that they may flow 
through beer barrels. In every city, town and village, 
magnificent breweries may be counted by the hundreds, 
while often almost every other house seems a beer saloon, 
or restaurateur, where the thirsty population collect in 
crowds and sip "the happy hours away," for ordinarily it 
takes a German about half an hour to drink a glass and 
sometimes an hour or longer. Some of these saloons, like 
the chief saloons in Berlin, Dresden, Munich, etc., are 
marvels of beauty and magnificence, adorned often with 



GERMAN DRINKS. 1 83 

the finest works of art. Then they gradually descend to 
the poor, cheerless, filthy-looking dens of the "peasants," 
where these sons and daughters of toil and poverty con- 
gregate to drink up their last "pfennig" in the refreshing 
liquid. Wagons filled with bottled beer may be seen go- 
ing through the streets at all hours of the day, supplying 
the orders of the upper classes, while all along the streets, 
men and women and children go with a mug of beer in 
each hand, taking it to their humble abodes, to be used 
in conjunction with the inevitable rye bread, and perhaps 
a bit of sausage, as their morning, noon or evening repast. 
Old, young, rich, poor — all drink beer. I have seen 
mothers steep the "sugar tit" of their babies in beer before 
putting it to their mouths. At all the parties I have at- 
tended among the nobility, after the most costly and de- 
licious viands have been disposed of, and the finest wines 
have been drunk, beer was invariably handed round. Even 
at the palace of the Duke of Coburg, after a dinner com- 
posed of fourteen courses, accompanied by fourteen dif- 
ferent kinds of wines, had been served, "Pilmer" beer was 
brought on the table. In addition to the numerous res- 
taurateurs always open and always well patronized, in 
every city and town there are elegant ciub houses where 
ladies and gentlemen meet to enjoy themselves socially 
and drink beer. When a musical concert is given (and 
they are all the time being given), the gentlemen come 
with their cigars and the ladies with their fancy work, and 
sitting in groups around innumerable tables, drink glass 
after glass of beer, as they listen to the enlivening strains of 
the always excellent music. 

To give some idea of the enormous quantity of beer 
drank here, our Consul at Munich states that, taking the 
population of that place and the quantity of beer reported 
as drank during the year in the official statistics and aver- 
aging the same, he discovered that each person in Munich 
drinks every year 278 gallons, or over 1,162 quarts, or 
over three quarts a day for each man, woman, child, infant. 
But then, from this estimate must be taken the quantity 
drank by soldiers stationed there, and visitors, which, of 
course, is considerable. A gentleman in Coburg told me 



1 84 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

he knew a man who had drank as many as twelve glasses 
while the clock was striking twelve — a glass for each stroke 
of the hammer, and the glasses held over a pint. No won- 
der then that Mark Twain said the first expression a 
foreigner hears on coming to Germany is " Zwei glass bier." 
Now, something may be said in extenuation of this habit, 
which to Americans seems vulvar and disgusting in the 
extreme, i. They drink it here in lieu of the water, which 
is very bad and unwholesome all over Europe. In Munich, 
particularly, the water is considered the next thing to 
poison. All over Germany it is full of lime, flat and insipid, 
and said to be very deleterious to the stomach. Beer, on 
the other hand, is thought to be very healthy. 2. Drink- 
ing beer takes away thirst for strong drink, and whiskey, 
brandy, rum, etc., are at a discount here. Drunkenness is 
nothing like so common as in America or England, and 
the beer really seems to have no intoxicating effect. 3. 
There is something in the climate that seems to render a 
gentle stimulant necessary, and beer, from actual results, 
is believed to be the one designed by nature for the inhab- 
itants of this cold, damp northern latitude. Notwith- 
standing all this, I can but think the practice as it exists 
very demoralizing, and, as I have said, disgusting beyond 
expression. But here it is not considered in the slightest 
degree so. The best, most celebrated and refined think 
it no discredit to sit over a mug of beer, in one of these 
saloons in company with their friends. I have even seen 
ministers of the gospel, in high position in the State 
Church, enjoy the indulgence with as ready a grace as the 
most practiced lay " guzzler." Martin Luther himself, his 
biographer tells us, was fond of " Zwa Eimbech beer." 
After his celebrated defence at Wurms, a certain Duke 
George sent him a glass which he drank gratefully, saying, 
"As Duke George hath remembered me, so may the Lord 
Jesus Christ remember him in his last agony," and when 
the said duke came to die, he thought of this benedic- 
tion and referred to it. No wonder, then, that in almost 
every beer saloon you may read in gilded letters, elegantly 
framed, the reputed saying of the great reformer, 

" Dr. Martin Luther spricht 
Freilich wasser thut'st nicht/' 



GERMAN DRINKS. 185 

WINE. 

I have had much to say in the preceding pages on the 
subject of beer drinking, and beer is the national beverage ; 
still, it must be confessed that the Germans are equally 
celebrated for drinking wine. Beer they generally drink 
between meals, but wine is the great dinner drink. Go to 
any hotel table where a table cVJwte is served and you will 
invariably see a long line of wine bottles extending the 
whole length of the table, and it is the next thing to im- 
possible to behold a German eating his dinner without 
his bottle, or rather bottles of wine. They have a decided 
prejudice against water, honestly, and in most cases truth- 
fully, believing that it is unwholesome. Nearly all the 
water in Germany, and many other parts of Europe, is 
strongly impregnated with lime, and is decidedly injurious 
to health. In Switzerland, particularly, it frequently pro- 
duces dyspepsia and goitre. Wines are cheap, good and 
wholesome, and the Germans drink them without stint. 
The table wines of Germany are generally clarets, or 
white Moselle wines, the Teutons having a decided pre- 
ference for the latter. 

Many sections of Germany, especially the Rhine provin- 
ces, are literally covered with vineyards, and it is ques- 
tionable whether any finer wines are produced in the 
whole world than the Rudesheimer and Johannisberger, 
from the Rhine; still, as the French and Italian wines 
have a higher reputation, the more opulent consumers 
often import their wines from these countries. The very 
best clarets can be had at from 25 to 40 cents per quart, 
and a healthy German never consumes less than a quart at 
one sitting. 

It is a custom with the more fashionable people to serve 
their dinners in elaborate courses, and to use a different 
wine with each course, champagne being reserved to the 
last. 

It is astonishing what fine judges of wine the Germans 
are. It is almost impossible to deceive them. One of 
them wagered 100 marks that he could date the vintage 
of any wine blindfolded. The bet was accepted, the man 
blindfolded, and one bottle after another presented to his 



1 86 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

lips. The first he said was of the vintage of i860, the 
second 1865, the third 1870, in each instance being correct. 
At last they presented a sample which baffled him. He 
tasted again and again, saying it was very poor and in- 
sipid, but entirely new to him. At last he said, "I give it 
up, you may have the money." On taking off the bandage 
he discovered that it was water. "Gentlemen," said he, 
"you needn't think it strange that I didn't know it, for I 
have not tasted a teacupful of it since I was a baby." 

WATER. 

While the Germans are prejudiced against water in gen- 
eral, they are very fond of mineral water, and use a great 
deal of it. It is kept for sale in all the saloons, drug stores, 
and hotels, and in the cities and tovvns is delivered by 
wagons, in syphons and ordinary bottles. But in order to 
get the best effect of mineral water, it must be drank 
fresh at the fountain, and no people in the world throng 
watering places to the extent that the Germans do. 

Germany, as is well known, is celebrated for its mineral 
springs, and a proper description of them would require 
a volume. I propose to write here of only those that I 
visited, and give a mere outline of these. Most of my 
readers have heard of, or seen, the "Friedrich's Halle Bit- 
ter Water." The spring is located about twelve miles from 
Coburg, in a field or meadow from which it is conducted 
by pipes to the packing house, where thousands of gal- 
lons are bottled, packed and thence shipped to all parts of 
the world. We drank the water at the fountain, or rath- 
er, tasted it, for a taste is enough of the mean, nauseating 
fluid. The water is shipped to the United States through 
the Sonneberg Consulate, and usually it formed a consid- 
erable item in the Statement of Exports. The proprietor 
was very polite to us, and gave us as many bottles as we 
could conveniently take along in our carriage. While 
this water has a very high reputation in the United States, 
it is not thought so much of in Germany, particularly in 
the neighborhood of the spring. Even mineral springs 
are not without honor save in their own country. 

Wiesbaden we passed on the Rhine, one of the oldest 



GERMAN DRINKS. 187 

and most celebrated of the world's greatest spas, annually 
visited by 60,000 patients and travelers. The excellence 
of its sanitary establishments, coupled with its fine cli- 
mate, makes it a favorite resort with strangers even in 
winter. The town of Wiesbaden contains 47,000 inhab- 
itants, and is the chief town of the Prussian province of 
Wiesbaden. This watering-place is so old, an account of 
it is found in Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxi: 2) "Sunt et Matti- 
aci in Germania, fontes calidi trans Rhenum, quorum 
haustus triduo ferret." On the Heidelberg, near the 
town, relics of a Roman fortress were discovered in 1838, 
which, according to an inscription, was garrisoned by the 
14th and 22d legions. 

A place better known to Americans is Baden, called 
Baden-Baden, to distinguish it from a Baden near Vienna 
and Baden in Switzerland. It lies at the entrance of the 
Black Forest, and vies with Heidelberg in the beauty of its 
situation. Next to Wiesbaden it is the most popular re- 
sort, 40,000 people visiting it annually. The climate is 
exceedingly mild and healthy. Near the church, which is 
well worth visiting, are the Hot Springs, twenty in num- 
ber, which have all been enclosed and are conducted by 
pipes to the bath establishments. Among the visitors 
here may be found many English and American people. 
One of these, a distinguished physician from New York, 
died there during my consulate at Sonneberg, and, as 
related in previous pages, his body was sent to me 
for cremation. While not a pleasant task that was de- 
volved upon me, it was a novel and interesting one, and 
made me perfectly familiar with the whole process of cre- 
mation 

Carlsbadt, in the Bohemian mountains, is another pop- 
ular and attractive resort, with 18,000 visitors annually, 
and with waters that are thought to be especially efifica- 
cious in liver diseases. The springs, according to tradi- 
tion, were discovered in 1347, by Emperor Charles IV., 
while hunting, in consequence of which a statue has been 
erected to him near the Town Hall. 

I passed Franzensbad on the railroad, a watering-place 
with a chalybeate and saline spring. The park is beauti- 



l88 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

fuland contains a statue of Francis I., the founder of the 
baths. 

But of all tlie watering-places which I saw, Kissingen 
was my favorite. The reasons of this were that the wa- 
ter was better suited to my taste, I spent a longer time 
there than anywhere else, it was nearer my home, being 
only thirty miles distant ; and because I met so many 
agreeable Americans among the visitors. Kissingen, the 
most frequented of all the watering places in Bavaria, is 
beautifully situated on the Saale, in the valley of the 
Franconian mountains. The healing properties of the 
water were known as early as the sixteenth century and 
they are drank all the world over. The summer we were 
there, twelve thousand visitors had registered, and yet the 
town itself contains ordinarily only 3,500 inhabitants. 
Three hundred thousand bottles of water are annually ex- 
ported and it is a delicious beverage. It is the only thing 
I ever saw that could induce the Germans to lay aside 
their beer, but this really did. While quaffing the water 
the taste for alcoholic drink disappears. It is well known 
that artificial "Kissingen" is sold at every first-class drug 
store in the whole land where there is a soda apparatus, 
and yet I frankly say the preparation is wholly deficient 
in conveying any idea of what real "Kissingen" is. I 
would not give one glass of "Rakoezy," fresh from the 
spring, for a whole barrel of the pungent, artificial "stuff 
palmed off on those who, misled by the silver letters on 
the marble fount, ask for "Kissingen." 

The hotels at Kissingen are superb, and furnish every 
comfort at most reasonable charges. The " Curgarten,'' 
or park, where the springs are located, is one of the love- 
liest spots on earth. This park is embellished in the 
highest style of art — beautiful walks beneath the wide- 
spreading branches of magnificent trees, inviting the 
invalid or tourist to agreeable exercise ; while between 
them the richest of green grass affords a relief to the eyes, 
that are lifted ever and anon to view some statue or work 
of man's hand, making the beholder wonder at the rivalry 
ever asserting itself as to which is doing most for the scene, 
nature or art. There stands Hygeia, imparting to the 



GERMAN DRINKS. 1 89 

Rakoezy and Pandur their healing properties ; while the 
Emperor Maximilian, in a huge statue by Arnold, a native 
sculptor, protects these great gifts of nature from incau- 
tious intrusion. In the centre of the park is a music stand 
where one of the best bands in Europe performs twice a 
day, in the morning and afternoon, when the guests crowd- 
ing the lawns, walks and "conversation saloons," make it 
one of the liveliest scenes which it is possible to imagine. 
The great Bismarck has a residence here, and prefers Kis- 
singen to any other spot when, worn and weary with the 
cares of state, he wishes to seek strength for his body and 
repose for his mind. 

Walking through the park one fine afternoon we halted 
by the band stand where hundreds of people were col- 
lected, listening to the music. Just as we came up, the 
band struck up " Hail Columbia," and then in delightful 
succession, "Star Spangled Banner," and " Columbia, the 
Gem of the Ocean." The crowd loudly applauded, in 
which we took part con amore. My wonder why these 
pieces were played just then ceased when the leader of the 
band came up to me and extended his hand. He was the 
leader of our Duke Ernest's band at Coburg. Recognizing 
us, he did the kind thing to honor us with our national 
airs. 

We visited the Salt Cure establishment, which is an 
immense structure, covered with twigs and brush, over 
which the salt water is continually trickling, creating an 
atmosphere quite similar to the "salt sea air.'' Patients 
by the hundred sit beneath the dripping of this health 
sanctuary, and read, or gossip, or sleep, believing they will 
thus regain their lost vigor or their vanished beauty. 

We returned from the Salt Cure to Kissingen in a 
miniature steamer, on the Saale ; and it was a joyous ride, 
not soon to be forgotten. We saw much high living and 
much fine dressing at this renowned watering place ; but 
like the old White Sulphur, in Virginia, all seemed to be 
on a common level, each one anxious to make everybody 
else as happy as possible. 



CHAPTER IX. 



LA BELLE FRANCE, 



EN ROUTE TO PARIS, 



My consular seat, Coburg, was an admirable centre of 
operations, situated as it was in the heart of Germany, 
and from that place, as will be seen, I traveled in all di- 
rections. One of the most delightful trips was to Paris, 
the foremost capital of the world. 

Leaving Coburg at 12 M., we took the direction of Ba- 
varia by the Werra and Bavarian Government Railroad. 
All along the line could be seen images of our Saviour, at 
road crossings, in the fields, and on the walls of dwell- 
ings, reminding one of the days when Catholic supersti- 
tion brooded over the land. These images recalled to my 
mind an incident of the Reformation. It was the break- 
ing of images at Wittenberg by the followers of Carlstadt 
that called Luther from t\y^ Wartburg Castle, in which he 
was confined on his return from the Diet at Worms, where 
he had remained a year translating the Bible and writing 
works that had been pushing on the cause of the Reforma- 
tion. He feared that the intemperate excesses of the 
church destroyers and image breakers would injure his 
cause, and at great personal peril he abandoned his safe 
retreat, and proceeded to Wittenberg to try to arrest their 
reckless conduct. A wonderful man Luther was ! While 
contending against the Pope and his adherents, including 
the Emperor of Germany, he also had to contend against 
some powerful men in his own ranks, such as Zwinglius 
and others like him, on certain points of doctrine, and al- 
so against the lawless image-breakers. 



LA BELLE FRANCE. I9I 

But to proceed. Railway travel in Germany is not 
pleasant. We have the abominable compartment system, 
which would be good enough, but for the fact that you 
are locked in with no water to drink, and no toilet rooms, 
and you are sometimes thrown into companionship with 
rather disagreeable persons. The trains generally travel 
very slowly, frequently making only twelve or fifteen miles 
an hour. The scenes at the depots growing out of the ne- 
cessities of the long pent-up travelers of both sexes, are far 
from decent, and often in the highest degree amusing. 
The waiting-rooms at all the stations are beer and eating 
saloons, and the Germans love to eat five times a day and 
drink beer all the while. This is the reason they drink 
so little water, in addition to the fact that the water here 
is never good. In many places, in Munich for example, 
and Switzerland it is thought to be positively dangerous. 
Hence they look with astonishment on Americans who 
ask for "fresh water.'' There seems to be something in 
the climate that makes beer desirable and water undesira- 
ble. It is a fact that Luther was very fond of good Eim- 
bech beer. At the Diet at Worms, after his masterly de- 
fense, on returning to his room he found a glass of beer 
which a friend had sent. It so pleased him that he utter- 
ed his benediction on the giver saying,"As he hath remem- 
bered me, so may the Lord Jesus Christ remember him in 
his last agony." 

We spent the first night in Heidelberg, one of the most 
picturesque and beautiful places in Europe, and concern- 
ing which Mark Twain has given such glowing descrip- 
tions in his "Tramp Abroad." The city has 40,000 in- 
habitants, and is the seat of a great University which is 
largely attended by Americans. It is unfortunately the 
scene of many of those foolish, bloody, barbarous duels 
fought between students who attend the Universities 
in Germany, and several poor fellows with their faces hack- 
ed to pieces were strolling about the streets and in the 
depot. At Heidelberg can be seen the most interesting 
old castle ruins in Europe, whose decaying "ivy mantled 
towers" recall all of our childish visions of these relics of 
antiquity. 



192 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

From Heidelberg we proceeded to Strasburg, passing 
Baden-Baden on the way. Strasburg is now a German 
city, made so by the Franco-Prussian war, has 100,000 in- 
habitants, and a cathedral that ranks next to that at Co- 
logne. The entire height of the building, including the 
tower, is four hundred and sixty-five feet, making it one 
of the highest buildings in Europe. St. Paul's in London 
is four hundred and four; St. Peter's at Rome is four 
hundred and thirty-five feet ; St. Martin's at Landehut, 
four hundred and sixty-two, and St. Nicolas at Hamburg, 
four hundred and seventy-one feet. The history of the 
building extends from the twelfth to the fifteenth centu- 
ry. The fagade, by Erwin of Steinbach, is justly the 
most admired part of the edifice. The sculptures of 
three portals, representing scenes from the history of the 
creation and redemption, are among the finest Gothic 
works in existence. The interior is wonderfully beautiful. 
It consists of a nave fourteen yards wide, ninety-nine 
feet high, and aisles, with transept in all, one hundred 
and twenty-one yards in length and forty-five yards in 
width. 

We were greatly interested in the famous clock in the 
south transept. This clock is about the size of a large 
church organ and arranged with galleries. On the first 
gallery an angel strikes the quarters with a bell in his 
hand, v/hile a genius at his side reverses his sand glass ev- 
ery hour. Higher up, around a skeleton which strikes 
the hours, are grouped figures representing boyhood, 
youth, manhood and old age. Under the first gallery the 
symbolic deity of each day steps out of a niche: Apollo 
on Sunday, Diana on Monday, and so on. In the high- 
est niche, at noon, the twelve apostles move around a fig- 
ure of the Saviour. On the highest pinnacle of the side 
tower is perched a cock, which flaps its wings, stretches 
its neck and crows, "awakening the echoes in the remotest 
nooks of the cathedral." The mechanism also sets in mo- 
tion a complete planetarium, behind which is a perfect 
calendar. The man who made this clock was a native of 
Strasburg, and tradition says, had both eyes put out for 
fear he would make another. 




STRASBUEG CATHEDRAL. 



LA BELLE FRANCE. I93 

We saw here the bust of Guttenberg, and there is a 
large statue erected to his memory. He made his first 
experiments in printing at Strasburg about the year 1436. 

There are many other interesting things which we saw 
at Strasburg, but I must pass on or I shall not get to 
Paris very soon. We traversed the most attractive 
route through Alsace-Lorraine, gazing with delight on the 
"Blue Alsatian Mountains," and being deeply interested 
in the costumes of the peasant girls, especially the "bow" 
which they wear on their heads in lieu of bonnets. Some 
of these Alsatian girls are very beautiful, with black eyes, 
and long, rich, dark hair, which, 1 have been told, is "culti- 
vated" for market, so that many of the rich braids that 
come to America to be worn by our fashionable belles are 
clipped from the fair heads of these more beautiful but 
pecuniarily less favored maidens. 

But we have reached Avricourt, the line between Ger- 
many and France, and must undergo custom-house 
formalities, which are a great nuisance to many, and lo! 
in the twinkling of an eye a new language is spokeno . 
"Parlez vouz Francaise." No more "sprechen zie Deutsch!" 
But on we go, "first class" in France being the same as 
to comfort and elegance as "second class" in Germany. 
The whistle blows, a grand city looms up before us. It is 
Paris. 

THE FAMOUS FRENCH CAPITAL. 

As I had telegraphed from Strasburg for rooms, we were 
met by an English-speaking courier who conducted us to 
the Hotel de la Tamise, on the Rue Rivoli, right in front 
of the Tuileries. I found we were in the " English quar- 
ter," where, in the hotels, stores, and on the streets, you 
hear almost as much English as French spoken. The 
weather was delightful, and Paris, I imagine, never wore 
a gayer appearance. We concluded to secure a guide 
recommended by the proprietor, who was Mr. Charles 
Peaux, an elderly gentleman of elegant manners and great 
intelligence, who knew all about the wonderful city. He 
showed me letters of recommendation from Dr. Lewis 
Rogers and Rev. J. H. Heywood, of Louisville, and in- 
13 



1^4 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

formed me that he had accompanied these gentlemen in 
a tour over the continent. 

The first place we visited, though in doing this we had 
to pass through the garden, and in front of the rums of the 
Tuileries, was the Louvre, the most important public 
building in Paris. Its name is said to be derived from 
louverie, or wolf resort, being on the site where once stood 
a hunting chateau built in 1233, by Philip Augustus, i he 
castle, which consisted of four wings inclosing a quadran- 
gle, was furnished as a royal residence by Charles V. in 

, but no trace of the original building remains. ihe 

foundation of the present building was laid by Francis I., 
whose architect, Lescot, continued to superintend the 
works under subsequent monarchs for thirty years, ihe 
construction of the south wing was continued under Cath- 
erine de Medici, Francis II., Charles IX., and Henry III. 
Henry IV. constructed the Gallerie d'Apollon, _ Louis 
XIV restored a considerable part of the palace which had 
been destroyed by f^re. The building was then neglected 
until the time of Napoleon I., who caused the whole to be 
thoroughly restored. The building was not completed 
when Napoleon died, but Napoleon III. completed the 
north gallery in magnificent style, and at a cost of fifteen 
million dollars. It is sad to think that the man who did 
so much for this wonder of architecture and for Pans is 
now in that silent land " unwept, unhonored and unsung. 
All through the spacious halls may be seen vacant places 
from which the portraits, busts and name of Napoleon III. 
have been removed and erased. 

The old apartments of the Louvre have been used as a 
museum since 1793. The ground floor contains innu- 
merable galleries of sculpture, some of them highly re- 
nowned, particularly the Venus of Milo, and a piece by 
Michael Angelo. The Egyptian collection is said to be 
the finest in Europe. But the charm of the Louvre consists 
in its picture galleries. I was prepared to expect some- 
thing wonderful, for 1 had seen the great Dresden and 
Berlin galleries, and was told that the Louvre was greater 
still But 1 did not expect that I would be so over- 
whelmed and bewildered with the exhibition of rare and 



LA BELLE FRANCE. I95 

magnificent paintings as I was in the Louvre, One really 
traverses acres of galleries, where are displayed in all 
their bewitching beauty the finest works of Raphael, 
Titian, Guido, Reni, Rubens, Paul Veronese, Leonardo 
da Vinci, Murillo, Holbein, Claude Lorraine, Joseph 
Vernet, and other great masters of all the great schools. 

From the Louvre we went, by way of recreation, up 
and down the magnificent boulevards of Paris, riding on 
the top of the tramways — the best way to see them. I 
can only say they consist of a series of Broadways, where 
the crowds are so great and the hackmen so reckless that 
you are in danger of being run over. 

We visited the Bourse, which is similar to the gold-room 
in New York, where the lunatics daily gather to rant and 
rave over their millions. 

We passed the statue of Marshal Ney, which stands on 
the spot where that gallant officer was shot by sentence 
pronounced against him by the Chamber of Peers, De- 
cember 6, 18 1 5, for having gone over to the First Napoleon 
instead of fighting him. 

We visited, of course, the Champs Elysees. This beau- 
tiful thoroughfare was laid out and planted with limes in 
the seventeenth century. By "Champs Elysees'' is now 
understood the entire avenue from the Arc de Triomphe 
to the Place de la Concorde, The lower end I found 
filled v/ith cafes, jugglers, mauviettes, merry-go-rounds, 
and innocent amusements for children. The upper part 
was crowded with the elite of Paris in their magnificent 
vehicles, and the thousands of pedestrians who can not 
afford a vehicle. 

Vv^'e next visited the Place de la Concorde, said to be 
the finest place in Paris, Europe, or the world. It is situ- 
ated between the garden of theTuileries and the Champs 
Elysees, From the centre of the place, where stands the 
obelisk of Luxor, sister monolith to Cleopatra's Needle, 
can be seen the Arc de Triomphe, the Madeleine church, 
the ruins of the Tuileries, the Corps Legislatif, and many 
other fine buildings. 

On the 30th of May, 1770, at a display of fireworks to 
celebrate the marriage of the Dauphin, afterwards Louis 



196 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

XVI., with Marie Antoinette, a panic arose from some 
unexplained cause, which resulted in twelve hundred per 
sons being crushed to death and two thousand seriously 
injured. 

During the Reign of Terror, in 1793, the guillotine was 
erected on the spot where now stands the obelisk. Louis 
XVI. and Marie Antoinette were the first victims. Be- 
tween January of that year and May, 1795, upwards of 
two thousand persons were decapitated. 

We had a good view several times of the Opera House, 
the largest theatre in the world, which covers an area 
of nearly three a-cres.- Between four and five hundred 
houses were demolished to provide the site, which cost 
over two million dollars. 

We entered the Madeleine church, a superb classic edi- 
fice, the foundation of which was laid by Louis XV. in 
1763, with magnificent carvings over the entrance, repre- 
senting the Last Judgment, and with bronze doors adorned 
with groups illustrating the Ten Commandments. 

We visited the Arc de Triomphe, the finest arch of the 
kind in existence. The arc was designed by Chalgrin for 
Napoleon I. in 1806. It is 160 feet high, 146 broad, 72 
feet deep, and cost two million dollars. 

The most interesting object in Paris visited by us was, 
I think, the church des Invalides, which contains the tomb 
of Napoleon L, without doubt, I suppose, the most costly 
and magnificent tomb in the world. 

The Cathedral of the Invalides consists of a square pile 
surmounted by a circular tower with lofty dome and twelve 
windows. Immediately beneath the dome is a circular 
crypt thirty-six feet in diameter and twenty feet deep. 
The walls are of polished granite, adorned with marble 
reliefs, the effect of which is greatly enhanced by the 
strong, beautiful light admitted through the stained win- 
dows. The mosaic pavement at the bottom represents a 
wreath of laurels, and from it rises the sarcophagus which 
contains the ashes of Napoleon I., according to his direc- 
tion in his will, and his words are inscribed over the en- 
trance to the vault ; " I desire that my ashes may rest on 
the banks of the river Seine, in the midst of the French 
people whom I have so well loved." 



LA BELLE FRANCE. 1 97 

The Palais Royal being situated near our hotel, we visit- 
ed it often for it is the greatest place for shopping in the 
city. The history of this old Palais Royal would be a history 
of Paris itself for two centuries and a half. It was built by 
Cardinal Richelieu in 1629 ; at his death it was occupied by 
Anne of Austria with her two young sons, Louis XIV. and 
Philip of Orleans. Louis XIV. presented the palace to 
his younger brother. The grandson of Philip, who in- 
habited the palace, having exhausted his means by riotous 
living, built the arcades at present existing and rented 
them out to shop-keepers to "make a raise," a device 
which even royalty has sometimes to resort to. 

The celebrated Park Bois de Boulogne next attracted 
us, and here we saw the result of the struggle which has 
been going on for centuries between nature and art, as to 
which could do the most to make that the most beautiful 
"breathing place" in the world. We saw about a dozen 
wedding parties there on that Saturday afternoon, it be- 
ing the day and place where and when many of the mid- 
dle classes celebrate their nuptials. 

We also visited "Pere la Chaise," the famous cemetery 
of Paris. There are no less than 18,000 monuments in 
this vast burial-place. The tomb of Abelard and Eloise, 
about which so many sentimental tears have been shed 
and which has been so well described by "Mark Twain" 
in his Innocents Abroad, we saw. In point of beauty, it 
can not compare with Miss Canda's monument in Green- 
wood Cemetery, New York; and indeed, while "Pere la 
Chaise'' is much larger, it is nothing like so beautiful as 
Cave Hill. Our intelligent guide frankly admitted that 
there were no cemeteries in the world equal to those in 
America. 

We passed the " Place de la Bastile," but there is no- 
thing there but a stone or two to mark the spot where 
that massive old castle and prison stood. The "July 
Monument," near by, is worth seeing. It is 154 feet high, 
and the base of white marble. It most exactly resembles 
the statue of Victory, in Berlin, erected in honor of the 
victory over the French in 1870. 

The Vendome Column claimed no little of our atten- 



198 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

tion, situated only two squares from our hotel, and in full 
view. This was constructed by order of Napoleon I., to 
commemorate victories over the Russians and Austrians. 
It is 142 feet high and 13 feet in diameter, built of ma- 
sonry, cuirassed with plates of bronze representing scenes 
of the campaign of 1805, the metal of which is composed 
of 1,200 guns taken from the Russians and Austrians. 

We visited the Palace of Justice, and heard speeches 
from eminent lawyers; but as they were delivered in 
French, we did not understand all that was said. 

Right by the Palace of Justice stands the Sainte Cha- 
pelle, the prettiest little church in the world, having been 
finished when Gothic architecture had just attained its 
highest perfection. It was used in 1245-48, during the 
reign of St. Louis, for the reception of relics from the 
Holy Land. 

We could only see the gardens of the Palace of the 
Luxembourg, as it was closed for repairs. It contains a 
magnificent collection of modern paintings, which I was 
anxious to see, and worried no little that we reached the 
spot just after the doors were closed. We felt repaid in 
looking at the gardens, for flowers bloom nowhere more 
beautifully than in France. 

We spent some time in viewing the Pantheon, that large 
and imposing structure which stands on the highest ground 
in Paris, and may be called the " Westminster Abbey" of 
France. The foundation was laid by Louis XV. in 1764. 
It was built for a church, but during the Convention it 
was converted into a memorial temple under the name it 
bears. It is in the form of a Greek cross, 123 yards long 
and 92 wide. The dome is 272 feet high. The interior 
is simple and extremely bare, the decorations being not 
yet finished. We were admitted to the vaults wherein 
were buried Mirabeau, Marat, Voltaire, etc. As I gazed 
upon Voltaire's splendid memorial, I thought could the 
" storied urn and animated bust back to its mansion call 
the breath" of the deceased after his long experience in 
the other world, how differently would he write and speak. 

We, of course, paid a visit to Notre Dame, the cathe- 
dral of the archbishop of Paris, founded in 1163, on the 



LA BELLE FRANCE. 1 99 

site of a church of the fourth century. It has been fre- 
quently altered and restored, the last time in 1845. I 
have seen no cathedral since reaching the Old World that 
made a better impression on me than this world-renowned 
temple, aUhough the tout ensemble is diminished by the 
high buildings that surround it. We attended a brief 
service and heard the most charming of sacred music, then 
visited the treasury, in Vv^hich are kept the relics from the 
Holy Land, removed from the St. Chapelle. These relics 
include fragments of the crown of thorns and of the true 
cross (so called), a nail from the cross, many ecclesiastical 
vestments, silver busts of St. Denis, St. Louis, and other 
curiosities. In the chapter are shown the blood stained 
garments of Archbishop Darboy, murdered by the Com- 
mune. The great bell of Notre Dame, mentioned by 
Victor Hugo, is one of the largest in Europe, weighing 
sixteen tons. The clapper alone weighs ten hundred 
weight. I am sorry we could not enter the morgue in the 
rear of the church, but it was closed for repairs. In the 
morgue are exposed the bodies of all unknown persons 
who die from accident, homicides, or sucdenly. The bod- 
ies are exposed naked upon marble slabs for three days, 
unless previously claimed and carried away by friends. 
They are kept cool by jets of water flowing over them. 
The clothing worn at the time of death is hung up over 
each body, 

I have briefly described the principal objects we saw in 
Paris, but in visiting these, many others were necessarily 
viewed, such as the bank of France, the residence of the 
Rothschilds, the many statues erected all over the city, 
including that of the Maid of Orleans, the celebrated 
French markets, etc. After getting through with the pub- 
lic buildings, art collections, and other objects, we took 
another stroll over the Champs Elysees. 

THE CHAMPS ELYSEES. 

I have already devoted a paragraph to this celebrated 
thoroughfare. It is deservi.ig of a more extended notice. 
All large cities have two or three great and conspicuous 
avenues that give character and reputation to the cities 



200 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

themselves. New York has its Broadway and Fifth Av- 
enue ; London, its Regent's Street and Cheapside ; Berlin, 
its "Unter den Linden ;" Vienna, its "Graben" and " Rue 
Strasse," and Paris has its Boulevards and Champs Elys- 
ees, without which Paris would not be Paris, while with 
them it is the most gorgeous and splendid capital in the 
world. Having seen all the great sights, and having an 
afternoon that I could devote to the purpose, we took a 
stroll along the renowned Champs Elysees. The day was 
bright, the air balmy and invigorating after breathing the 
thick foggy atmosphere of Germany, and everything 
seemed to contribute to the delights of the occasion. 
Now, the Champs Elysees is one mile and a quarter long, 
and very wide, planted with rows of majestic trees, and 
laid out in parterres, profuse with flowering plants and 
shrubs. As already remarked, here are elegant cafes, 
open air concerts, apparatus for children's games, and 
hundreds of tasteful booths or stands filled with playthings 
and tempting refreshments, while a multitude of young 
and old people were sporting under the trees, or sitting in 
rows of chairs along the sidewalks, watching the pedes- 
trians, carriages, and horsemen that throng the avenue. 
There was also a circus, and panorama, and in close prox- 
imity the most brilliant and notorious of the Paris dancing 
gardens, and also the chateau drs fleurs. On the Champs 
Elysees is the Palais de r Industrie^ or French Crystal Pal- 
ace, built tor the exhibition of arts and industrial pursuits 
in 1855, whose ample apartments are now used for the 
national exhibitions of industry, horticulture, agriculture, 
and the fine arts, one or more of which is held every year. 
Midway, the avenue widens into a circular place, called 
rond poi7it, adorned by a large fountain, and then proceeds, 
bordered by the most imposing and magnificent houses 
to the Arc de Triomphe, which is one terminus, while the 
Place de la Concorde is the other. As I walked along this 
lovely avenue, I could see on every side and in the dis- 
tance those magnificent and celebrated edifices for vvhich 
Paris has become so noted, and which we had, one by 
one, visited. And need I say, that there, in that foreign 
land, and in that grand city, with such inspiring surround- 



LA BELLE FRANCE. 20I 

ings, I felt happy. I thought the street had its right 
name, "Elysian Fields;" and commended the taste of 
Americans which makes them prefer Paris to any place in 
Europe. If there is any place in the world where cheer- 
ful surroundings can lift a man out of himself, and make 
the sick man forget that he is sick, the poor man forget 
that he is poor, the troubled soul forget its troubles, the 
rejected lover forget "his mistress' eyebrows," the wan 
derer iorget his homesickness, that place is the Champs 
Elysees on a fine afternoon. But read what another says 
of it, and then cross the ocean and see for yourself : "Who 
does not know the Champs Elysees? Gay, bright, charm- 
ing wonder, with its magnificent circus, and its panoramas, 
and its cafes, and its troops of minstrels, and its little 
•goat drawn phaetons, and its swings, and its long asphalt, 
walk and its swarms of people, and its pleasant rendezvous, 
and its broad, firm avenue sweeping away westward to the 
Arc de Triomphe.. Who has not loitered there of a sun- 
ny afternoon, watching the passing multitudes, greeting 
familiar faces, gazing at the dashing equipages, listening 
:to the pleasant chanter or harpist, his soul lost in reve- 
ries, and his fancy busy with bright dreams? And who 
that has thus idled in such enticing luxury of scene and 
sound, but longs for such luxurious idleness again ? What 
a quieter for disordered spirits, what a cure for fainting 
courage, that walk upon the Champs Elysees! If sick- 
ness has pinioned your arm. and foot in some dim chamber 
of the Rue de Bac, tell your coachman to drive you to the 
sunny Champs Elysees, and you are well again. If de- 
spondency weighs you down, heavy and dark as the air of 
such streets as Rue de la Harpe, stroll up the Champs 
Elysees, and its sights, and its sun, and its trees, and its 
smiles, will make you forget your sadness. If bitter news 
has come to you, a stranger in that city, where, of all 
cities, a stranger is least a stranger, an hour upon that 
Champs Elysees will drive the bitter memories away." 

A DAY IN VERSAILLES. 

Delightful indeed was a day spent in Versailles, the 
summer home of the kings of France, a city of 25,000 in- 
habitants, fifteen miles from Paris. 



202 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

The city has wide and beautiful streets, resembling the 
avenues in Washington City, and many handsome resi 
dences. But the chief object of interest is the magnifi- 
cent palace. The facade is a quarter of a mile long, and 
the building presents various styles of architecture. The 
centre is the original chateau of Louis XIII. The wings 
were added by Louis XIV., and other portions by Louis 
XV., and Louis XVIIL Taken all together, it is a most 
magnificent palatial pile, with but few equals of the kind 
on "this terrestrial ball." 

The Coeur d'Honneur is adorned with statues over life 
size of celebrities in French history, from Bertrand and 
Bayard, the chevalier, down to Mortier, marshal of the 
empire in 1835. In the centre of the court is a colossal 
statue of Louis XIV., in bronze, on horseback, made of 
cannon brought from the Rhine, where he was so often 
victorious in the halcyon gone by days of the kingdom. 

The spacious halls of this wonderful building were con- 
verted by Louis Philippe into a museum of historical 
paintings, which is pronounced the finest in the world. 
The whole collection is said to have cost $3,000,000. To 
view all of these grand pictures — even to glance at them 
— takes a day's fatiguing work. 

Many of the rooms are royally furnished, and remain 
just as they were left by the mighty ones who once lived 
there. We were much interested in viewing the private 
apartments of Louis XIV., containing the bed in which 
he regularly slept, and other pieces of furniture used by 
him. More interesting still were the cosy private rooms 
of the ill-fated Marie Antoinette, whose sad history so 
touches the hearts of all. We saw the door through which 
she escaped on that ever memorable occasion, when the 
ruffians came to arrest her, from which she fled into the 
country, where she was captured, taken to the Place de la 
Concorde, and decapitated. 

Many interesting events have transpired at Ver- 
sailles. Louis XIV. died here. Louis XV. was born 
and died here. It was here that Damiens attempt- 
ed to assassinate the last named king. Louis XVI. was 
forcibly carried away from the palace in 1780. In 18 15 



LA BELLE FRANCE. 203 

the palace was pillaged by the Prussians. It was occupied 
in succession by Louis XVIII., Charles V., and Louis 
Philippe. In 1871, it was occupied by the German forces, 
and here, right in front of the statue of Louis XIV., King 
William of Prussia was proclaimed Emperor of Germany. 

The palace is situated in the midst of immense gardens 
that are celebrated all over the world. They are in keep- 
ing with the architecture of the palace, and contain innu- 
merable vases and statues that are genuine antiques or 
copies. The great feature of attraction is the playing of 
the fountains, where water is jetted forth from the mouths 
of all the gods and goddesses that were ever heard of. 
On the occasions of these artistic water displays, the 
grounds are crowded with the gay Parisians and tourists. 
The orangery was finished in 1686, when the orange trees 
at Fontainebleau were transferred to it. One of these 
trees is the subject of a historic legend. A princess of 
Navarre, in 142 1, planted five orange seeds so close to- 
gether that when they came up, three of the plants grew 
into one tree. In 1499, Catherine de Foix, Queen of Na- 
varre, sent this tree to Queen Anne of Brittany. In the 
course of time it found its way to Fontainebleau, when it 
was catalogued under the name of the Corinetable. At 
Versailles it is known as the grand Bourbon. If its history 
is true, this venerable orange tree is over four and a half 
centuries old. 

We dined in a restaurant which was once part the 

palace, and occupied by the notorious Madame de Pompa- 
dour. We were permitted to visit the apartments of this 
widely known woman, whose name has been so often and 
so unfavorably before the public. 

Having visited the great palace, and the beautiful gar- 
dens, we proceeded to the Great Trianon, a handsome villa 
about half a mile distant, built by order of Louis XIV. 
for Madame de Maintenon. It has been since used as a 
retreat and summer resort by all the rulers of France, and 
was a favorite residence of Napoleon I. While the apart- 
ments are not large, they are superbly furnished, and con- 
tain many valuable paintings, statues and royal relics, 
prominent among which are the bed and bathing tub of 



204 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Napoleon I. It was interesting to walk through these 
now untenanted halls, and view the mementoes of the 
past, nearly every object having a history peculiar to itself, 
and suggestive of those events that are forever memorable 
in French history. 

Near this place stands the spacious building contain- 
ing the carriages which have been used by the kings of 
France for centuries past. These vehicles are magnificent 
in the extreme, several of them costing as much as ten 
thousand dollars each. The carriage in which Napoleon 
rode to his coronation is especially costly and beautiful ; 
while less pretentious, but full of more absorbing interest, 
is the one in which, after the divorce, Josephine was sent 
to Malmaison. That separation must ever remain a stigma 
on the name of Napoleon. To gratify his inordinate am- 
bition, he divorced one of the purest, noblest and best of 
women, and now the blood of Napoleon Bonaparte flows 
in no veins. 

We next proceeded to the Petite Trianon, a small villa 
erected by order of Louis XV. for Madame de Barry, but 
occupied subsequently by Louis XVL and Marie Antoi- 
nette. The house is furnished just as the unfortunate 
lady left it. Near her bed, which stands "made up" as on 
the ill-fated morning when she went to the guillotine, 
hangs the picture of the little Dauphin, whose fate is still 
wrapt in profoundest mystery. It is said she took her 
infant in her arms, and implored the infuriated mob to 
spare her for the sake of suffering innocence, but they 
only replied, "Yes, but we want bread, down with the 
proud Austrian." It is said that Little Trianon was the 
favorite home of Marie Antoinette. Not the Luxem- 
bourg, or Louvre, or great palace of Versailles, or Great 
Trianon, had half the charms for her that she found in 
the cosey home, with its handsome gardens, shady groves, 
and charming lakes. 

As night was approaching, we returned to Paris. Both 
coming and going, we had delightful views of the town 
and park of St. Cloud, nestling between the plateau and 
banks of the Seine, notable for the palace now in ruins, 
which was built by Louis XIV., and presented to the Due 



LA BELLE FRANCE. 20$ 

d'Orleans, afterward purchased for Marie Antoinette by 
Louis XVI. The Emperor Napoleon always had a great 
partiality for the palace, and it was a favorite summer 
residence of Napoleon III. From the top of the plateau 
is a magnificent panorama of the city of Paris, and as we 
had seats on the top of the cars, we could see all to our 
entire satisfaction. We passed, also, the residence of 
Gambetta, but recently deposed, and who has since died. 
He was a great statesman, being to France what Fox or 
Pitt was to England, or Calhoun, Clay, or Webster to this 
country. Had he lived,, he would, doubtless, have been 
restored to power. 



CHAPTER X 



SNOW CLAD SWITZERLAND, 

FROM BASLE TO LUCERNE. 

Having viewed Paris and its wonders to our satisfaction, 
instead of returning at once to Coburg, we concluded to 
go into Switzerland, which, at its nearest point, is only a 
day's journey from the French capital. We left about 
eight o'clock in the morning, and proceeded by the most 
direct route, which took us through the very heart of La 
Belle Fra}ice. Lideed, that expression is no misnomer, 
for France is beautiful. Cultivated under the most im- 
proved and ever recuperating systems for centuries, the 
whole country looks like a garden. The residences as 
seen from the railroad are lovely. It is said that the 
French have no word for home. If they have not that 
sign of comfort and rest, they certainly have the thing 
signified. We passed several beautiful cities which I will 
not stop here to describe, and many attractive railroad 
stations, but after all, as before remarked in these pages, 
railroad travel in France is not pleasant. We advise all to 
do as we did, and take "first-class,'' for that is only equal 
to "second class" in England or Germany. 

About nine o'clock at night we crossed the Rhine, and 
the train halted at Basle. The proprietor of the Hotel de 
la Tamisse told us to stop at the "Trois Rois," (three 
kings), but by this time we had gotten pretty tired of 
speaking French, and we accompanied the porter who had 
*'Englischer Hof on his cap, being much more at home in 
German than in the former polite language. Our hotel 
was everything we could desire, and we enjoyed a deli- 
cious night's repose. 



SNOW CLAD SWITZERLAND. 20/ 

We felt happy that we were, at last, in Switzerland, that 
land of which we had read and heard so much, and next 
morning as the sun looked into our windows, we arose 
and looked out on a beautiful city of forty thousand souls, 
while in the distance, the Jura Mountains were plainly vis- 
ible. Spurs of the Alps could also be faintly seen, and 
right at our feet we again saw "the blue Rhine sweep 
along.'' 

After breakfast I proceeded to the office of the Amer- 
ican consul, where 1 received a cordial welcome from 
Consul F. H. Mason, who took me to his home and showed 
us all much attention. He was formerly the distinguished 
editor of the Cleveland Leader, and, broken down in health, 
had accepted the Basle consulate under President Hayes, 
and was continued by President Garfield, who was his in- 
timate personal friend. He was on Gen. Garfield's staff 
during the war, and he showed me a book full of autograph 
letters from President Garfield, which, written with the 
unreserved freedom of private correspondence, were deeply 
interesting. Had the President lived, a bright future was 
in store for Col. Mason, who would doubtless have been 
given, I think, the Paris consulate. We walked up and 
dov/n the streets of Basle, and visited its cathedrals, 
churches, and medieval museum, all of which were worth 
seeing. Basle is the centre of the silk trade for all that 
region, and some magnificent samples of the manufacture 
Avere shown me by the consul. Aniline colors are also 
shipped largely from this place to the United States. After 
a day spent delightfully here, we proceeded to Zurich. 

The ride was one of the most delightful imaginable. 
About midday, I looked out of the window and caught a 
glimpse of the Alps. The scene is forever photographed 
on my memory. No other mountains in the world look 
like the Alps, and now, all covered with snow, they re- 
called all the pictures I had ever seen of them, as well as 
the historic scenes of Napoleon and his army struggling 
over them, and of the hundreds of travelers who had sunk 
to rise no more amid those eternal snows. Soon we reached 
Zurich, a city of about 20,000, and one of the most fasci- 
nating places I ever beheld. If I had to take up my abode 



208 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

in Europe for life, I believe I would select Zurich, situated 
as it is on a beautiful lake, twenty-five miles long, from 
one to two miles in width, and six hundred feet deep, right 
in full view of the Alps, and in the midst of towering 
mountains, themselves the spurs of the great Alpine 
ranges. We stopped at the Hotel Bellevu, right on the 
lake, and had apartments ample and elegant enough for 
a prince and his suite. I will not detail here all that we saw 
in the churches and museums, but cannot refrain from re- 
ferring to one object that I examined in the Arsenal 
Collection, which possessed as much interest to me as any- 
one thing that I saw in Europe. It was nothing less than the 
veritable bow with which William Tell shot the apple from 
the head of his son, preserved as it has been through the 
centuries. The stores and shops in Zurich are magnifi- 
cent, particularly those where silks are sold, and also those 
where articles made of Swiss wood are exhibited. We 
laid in a good supply of the latter, consisting of Swiss 
cottages, inkstands, paper knives, toy furniture, writing 
cases, etc. 

While in Zurich we made an excursion to the top of 
the "Oetliberg," a celebrated mountain near by, where we 
had a view of Zurich, the lake, the Alps, and the whole 
country, which beggars all description. On the mountain 
we saw several very fine St. Bernard dogs, which we wished 
we could have taken to America with us. 

Here, in Zurich, was living in his old age, with his mind 
almost gone, Oncken, the celebrated German Baptist 
father, now eighty-two years old. He did a mighty work 
in Germany for the Baptists, and his name will ever be 
held blessed in the memory of his people. His former 
home was Hamburg, in Germany, but in old age and de- 
crepitude, his friends advised him to locate at Zurich. 

But time is precious, and we must hasten on to Lucerne. 
We passed in sight of several lakes and many inspiring 
mountains in reaching this far-famed place, and at last 
reached it, to find more than a realization of all our ex- 
pectations. Lucerne is situated on Lake Lucerne, the 
prettiest sheet of water in the world, 1,400 feet above the 
sea level, and contains 15,000 inhabitants. The hotels, all 




ill 






.^^^%^. 




SNOW CLAD SWITZERLAND. 2O9 

along the lake, are superb, and resemble those seen at 
Long Branch. We stopped at the "Hotel Cygne," (Swan 
Hotel,) which commanded the most beau'iful view of that 
picturesque lake, which is ninety-five miles long, and with 
varied breadth, with its blue waters sleeping beneath a 
blue sky, while on one side towers the Rhegi, and on the 
other Mount Pilatus. The Rhegi summit is reached by a 
railroad "among the clouds," where the best view in 
Switzerland can be obtained. Mount Pilatus is named 
from a legend or tradition which says that Pontius Pilate, 
after signing the death warrant of our Saviour, was so 
filled with remorse that he sought the seclusion of this 
mountain retreat. Here, living for a few years, he could 
find no rest, till, at last, overcome by the stings of his 
guilty conscience, he descended to the peaceful lake, and 
jumping headforemost into its waters, drowned himself. 
The mountain has ever since been known as Pilate's 
Mountain. 

What gives a peculiar interest to Lucerne, besides its 
natural beauty, is the fact that on its banks the wonderful 
feats of William Tell were performed. 

We wandered in many directions around and about 
Lucerne, and there is no place of the same size which has 
more curiosities and objects of interest to strangers. The 
few days we spent there will ever be reverted to as among 
the most pleasant of our lives ; and while I write I can 
see lovely blue waters sleeping before me, disturbed ever 
and anon by some gayly painted steamer, filled with tour- 
ists, and on all sides stupendous mountains rise apparently 
to the very clouds ; and on the highly embellished shores, 
hundreds of joyous people are standing, gazing on the en- 
chanting landscape, or walking or driving along its pebbled 
roads. If there is a place in the world where a man can 
be lifted out of himself, whatever his troubles, that place 
is Lucerne, And yet Pilate chose that as the place of his 
suicide. How awful must have been his crime ! 

SWISS INDUSTRIES. 

We were in Switzerland in the early spring, when the 
lofty Alpine peaks were "most wrapt in clouds and snow." 
14 



210 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Had we been there a little later, the whole country would 
have been full of tourists, for there is no country in the 
world so sought after by "tramps abroad" as this. As 
soon as summer sets in, the magnificent hotels are all 
thrown open, and their name is legion, vehicles of all de- 
scriptions are brought into requisition, and donkeys in par- 
ticular show that they were not made in vain, as they toil 
up mountain heights which one in this country would 
think could only be scaled by the agile goat. Multitudes, 
however, prefer doing Switzerland on foot, and indeed, 
this is the best and safest way to see it. Most tourists 
seem to have a craze to go higher up those terrible peaks 
than others have done before them, and many lives have 
been lost in consequence. The blood runs cold, as I 
think of the many daring exploits they told me of, but in- 
stead of begetting in me a disposition to reach those lofty 
crags and precipitous places, it made me resolve to stay 
away from them. One man lost his footing and fell a 
distance of one hundred feet into a crevasse. How terri 
ble was his situation ! A narrow pathway below, and on 
ly a blue streak of the sky above. He followed the path 
way in one direction, and found that it terminated on the 
brink of a precipice that stretched hundreds of feet away. 
He retraced his steps, and found that it terminated at the 
other end on the brink of another precipice, at the foot of 
which rolled a dark and turbid river. Into that river he 
plunged. It was a fearful leap. For a moment he was 
lost to sight, but rising, he clung to a huge block of ice, 
on which he floated on what he thought was a ride of 
death, but soon, and suddenly, he was drifted into the 
ilowery vales, and landed on the green shores of Cha- 
mounix. On the top of Mont Blanc, or near the top, is 
the celebrated Convent of St Bernard, of which all the 
world has heard, where travelers are so often "taken in," 
and where one can hear stories of adventures in the Alps 
to his heart's content. Here, too, he can see those cele- 
brated St. Bernard dogs, which tradition tells us have 
been instrumental in saving so many lives. We visit- 
ed Switzerland about the time that many serious dis- 
asters occurred, by which whole villages and many sep- 



SNOW CLAD SWITZERLAND. 211- 

arate dwellings were buried beneath the falling or sliding; 
mountains. 

We had the opportunity of" learning much about the 
Swiss industries. The most important of these, I think, 
is the watch industry. There are not less than seventy 
thousand men employed in making watches. There are 
many schools or colleges where the business is taught as 
a specialty, and the Swiss have in this business the expe- 
rience of centuries. The Exposition at Philadelphia showed 
that the American watch was nearly, if not quite up tothe- 
Swiss, and American manufacturers have greatly the ad- 
vantage of their competitors in this as well as in other 
industries, owing to their new and magnificent machinery. 
Another great Swiss industry is the manufacture of silk 
goods. It is said that forty million dollars' worth of 
manufactured and raw silks are annually imported into 
the United States, and a large proportion of tliis vast im- 
portation is made from Switzerland. In Zurich, where we 
spent many days, we found some very fine establishments, 
shipping altogether from this district alone over two 
million dollars' worth of these goods to the United States. 
From the Basle district, from three to four million dollars' 
worth of silk ribbons are sent to the United States. In 
the consul's of^ce at Basle I saw samples of all these, and 
they were beautiful to behold. 

" Every figure had its plaidings, 
Brighter form and softer shadings." 

Another industry that interested us at Basle was the 
manufacture of aniline colors, under which general terms 
are embraced the varied and brilliant coloring and dyeing 
materials now manufactured chemically from the several 
products resulting from the dry distillation of coal tar, 
viz, aniline, naphthaline, phenol, and anthracine. Four 
large establishments are now in operation in Basle, and 
one near Geneva, the combined annual product of v/hich 
is five million dollars. In St. Galle, the principal in- 
dustry is the manufacture of embroideries, and to show 
the extent of it, I state that in 1880, over five million dol- 
lars' worth were shipped from this district to the United 
States, the duty on which brought to our government one 



212 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

million and a half of dollars. With $1,500,000 from 
Swiss embroideries alone, who wouldn't be in favor of a 
protective tariff? But one of the most ancient of the in- 
dustries of Switzerland is the manufacture of Swiss cheese. 
It is said that instruments for this purpose have been 
found in different parts of the country among the ruins of 
the "lake dwellings,"' whose date is anterior to all histori- 
cal records, and from the way the cheese smells, one is 
apt to think that it antedates even that remote prehistoric 
period. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the 
production had grown large enough to become the sub- 
ject of legislation. At the end of the last century, the 
methods of manufacture were of the rude kind still in use 
among the mountains and in remote districts. The modern 
manufacture dates from its introduction about a hundred 
years ago. Cattle are stabled and well cared for, and 
such perfection is reached in the production that the bet- 
ter kinds of Swiss cheese are as much a product of skill 
and high art as a Swiss watch. Several million dollars' 
worth of these cheeses are exported annually, and the 
hom.e consumption in Switzerland, as in Germany, is 
enormous. A German or Switzer must always have 
cheese at the end of his meal. Though the dinner has 
consisted of fourteen courses, concluding Vi^ith ice creams 
and other delicacies, cheese, with bread and butter, must 
be served, and this same cheese looks filthy enough, and 
smells bad enough, to turn the stomach of an ox, and I 
should think would require all the "pepsin" that the bo- 
vine stomach contains to secure a proper digestion. 

But I turn from- the industries of the land to gaze on 
its indescribable scenery, for this is the charm of Switzer- 
land Those mountains lifting their now dark, now sun- 
clad forms to the clouds, so close that " dwellers in the 
vales and on the hills can shout to each other;" those 
lakes that calmly and gracefully sleep " under the shadow 
of a great rock" on every side ; those skies now cold and 
gray, a suitable back-ground for the snowy, craggy, but 
fascinating picture that everywhere meets your gaze ; these 
are the things that make you feel that you are in the land 
of William Tell, that little Republic in the midst of em- 



SNOW CLAD SWITZERLAND. 213 

pires and thrones, where a freeborn American feels more 
at home than anywhere else in Europe. 

FAREWELL TO SWITZERLAND. 

It is astonishing what a fascination water has for us all. 
All of us have had our favorite wells, our favorite springs, 
and our favorite streams. Who does not sympathize with 
thirsting David as he exclaims, " Oh, that one would give 
me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem that is 
by the gate," and who has not been delighted as he has 
read the incomparable poem of Woodworth on the " old 
oaken bucket, the iron bound bucket, the moss covered 
bucket that hung in the well." " The banks and braes of 
bonny Dooti" were always an inspiration to Robert Burns. 
Byron, doubtless, had some old, familiar well in his mind 
when, expressing his undying friendship for Moore, he said, 

"Wer't the last drop in the well, 

As I gasped upon the brink, 
Ere my fainting spirit fell, 

'Tis to thee that I would drink." 

Tennyson touches a chord in every heart in his Song of 
the Brook, when he says, " Men may come and men may 
go, but I go on forever." The German, whether at Bingen 
or at other points on the splendid river, feels never so rich 
a joy as when he sees " the blue Rhine sweep along." But 
of all the waters in the world, none are so engaging, so 
fascinating as the Swiss lakes, their clear, calm waters 
margined by stupendous mountains, and unique and at- 
tractive cottages. It is delightful to gaze on these lakes 
by day, but the night views are often finer still. I can 
never forget a night scene on Lake Lucerne, the prettiest 
sheet of water in the world, Geneva, perhaps, excepted by 
some. 

" The twilight hours like birds flew by, 

As lightly and as free, 
Ten thousand stars were in the sky, 

Ten thousand in the sea. 
For every wave with dimpled cheek 

That leaped upon the air 
Had caught a star in its embrace 

And held it trembling there. ' 



214 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

T. Buchanan Read's "Drifting," descriptive of a sail on 
the Bay of Naples, best describes my impressions as I 
stood that right on the shores of Lucerne, and heard the 
soft waves " murmuring to the murmuring keels " of the 
many boats that flitted over its silver bosom. 

But " naught can tether time nor tide," and the time 
came when I must bid adieu to the Switzerland of the 
Alps, the real " land of the sky," and go back to Thurin- 
gia, the "Switzerland of Germany." Blessings brighten 
as they take their flight, or as we take our flight from them, 
and Switzerland never seemed so beautiful as on the eve 
of our departure. And is it true that these scenes which 
now so charm me will soon be forgotten as other scenes 
and other objects press upon my attention? It is even 
so. The beautiful waters on which I have gazed are but 
emblematic of the heart of man, as to the impressions 
made upon it by the things of time and sense. 

"My heart is like a sleeping lake 

Which takes its hue from cloud and sky, 

And only feels its surface break 

As birds of passage wander by, 

And tip the r wings and upward soar, 

And leave it quiet as before." 

And yet, Mark Twain truly says, the Alps have a fasci- 
nation which makes him who sees them once, always long 
to see them again. They are like no other mountains. 
They are gigantic loadstones that hold you by a magic 
and resistless power. It is, perhaps, this wondrous force 
which drags aspiring mortals up their craggy and precipi- 
tous sides to their very tops, there often to perish in their 
eternal snows, or haplessly fall into their dangerous cre- 
vasses. In my case, as before remarked, the spell was not 
so great as to induce me to attempt those dangerous as- 
cents. Mark Twain always yielded that honor to his 
companion, Harris, and I yielded it to whoever might de- 
sire it, remembering the words of Byron on the subject 
of ambition : "He who climbs to mountain tops oft finds 
their loftiest peaks most wrapt in cloud and snow." It 
is literally so in the Alps, 

We return to Zurich, and stop again at the hotel Belle- 



SNOW CLAD SWITZERLAND. 21$ 

vue, on the beautiful Lake Zurich, which I have before de- 
scribed. We lingered a day or so at this charming place 
again. I told the proprietor of the hotel that I intended 
to return in midsummer and spend a month or two with 
him, and asked what he would charge? He said two 
dollars a day each for my party of five. Considering the 
magnificent accommodations, this was very reasonable. 
The prices of living in Zurich, which is situated almost in 
the heart of Europe, may be considered a fair sample of 
what may be expected anywhere on the continent, and 
having ascertained from our consul there what these pri- 
ces are, I give them here for the benefit of those who wish 
to go abroad. . Americans go abroad usually for self-cul- 
ture, for rest, for the education of their children, and, of 
course, wish to live in good houses in a respectable quar- 
ter of the city, and in a way suitable to their station in 
life. House rent, then, is the first thing to notice. As a 
rule, apartments only are to be rented on the continent, 
like the "flats" in New York. They contain usually from 
five to seven rooms, with servants' rooms at the top, wood 
rooms, bath rooms, etc. These cost about $400 yearly. 
At Coburg, however, I had a house to myself, which cost 
me about $450 per annum. Single rooms it is difficult to 
rent, but cost, furnished, twelve dollars per month. An 
American gentleman who has kept house in Zurich for 
several years, gives the following figures : His family con- 
sists of himself, wife and two children. They have an 
apartment of six rooms on second floor in the best part of 
the city, at a rental of $500 per annum. They employ 
two servants, a cook and maidofall-work. The first is 
paid one dollar, and the other a dollar and a quarter per 
week, with five dollars as a present for each at Christmas, 
a universal Swiss and German custom. (In Coburg I paid 
two dollars and fifty cents and three dollars each for two 
servants. Then they want, in addition to Christmas 
gifts, about ten cents a week for "beer money.") Sewing 
women cost about fifty or sixty cents a day. The wash- 
ing and ironing is all done in the house. Fuel costs 
about sixty dollars a year for this family, coal being 
nine dollars per ton. (In Coburg, I got the best of cOal 



2l6 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

for four dollars and a half per ton.) Wood is very dear 
in Switzerland, being ten dollars per cord. The house 
expenses of this family, including marketing, wines, 
everything except servants' hire, were about sixty dol- 
lars per month. The family lived well, entertained friends, 
and went on frequent excursions, living as a rule, about 
as our professional men live in our Southern cities. My 
experience is, that living is considerably cheaper in Ger- 
many, except at the hotels, where two prices often range, 
one for natives, and one for foreigners. 

From Zurich to Coburg there were three routes: one 
by Munich, one by Basle, Baden-Baden, etc., and another 
by Lake Constance. We chose the last, as we wished to 
take a sail over the beautiful lake, which is, I believe, the 
largest of all We traversed a picturesque country till 
we came to the lake, where a splendid steamer was in 
waiting, and we crossed, a distance of twelve miles to 
Lindau. The Tyrolese Alps were in view on one side^ 
and the city of Constance, the palace of the king of Wur- 
temberg, and city of Lindau plainly visible at the other 
end of the lake, with other scenery which we thought very 
attractive. Lake Constance is the " Baden See" of Ger- 
man maps, and is thought to be the ancient bed of the 
Rhine, which flows through it now, while no less than 
fifty other streams empty into it. It is often tempestuous 
and dangerous to navigators. Vessels have been fre- 
quently wrecked upon it, and as a storm came up when 
we were about half way over, the pleasure of the passage 
was considerably marred, for the lake is said to have a 
maximum depth of 964 feet. Its waters are dark green, 
very clear, and seldom frozen over. The lake is subject 
to sudden risings, which have never been satisfactorily 
accounted for. 

But we reached Lindau in safety, and then took the 
train for Augsburg, (an old Reformation city where the 
Diet sat when Luther first appeared against Catholicism, 
and where it sat again during his confinement at Coburg 
castle,) Nuremberg, and Coburg, reaching our comfortable 
home there, content to rest for a while after so many rich 
experiences. 




SWli-S SCENE, 



CHAPTER XI. 



A RIDE THROUGH AUSTRIA. 

" BEAUTIFUL, BLUE DANUBE." 

Europe has two rivers that rival each other in size, 
beauty and grandeur. One is the Rhine, already described, 
while the other is the Danube. I have seen them both 
in all their glory, and it is difficult to decide between them. 
The most trivial circumstance, strange to say, can lend 
the highest importance and sweetest fascination to any 
object, and my chief desire to see these noble rivers re- 
ferred to arose from two poems or songs. In all that long 
journey from Cologne to Mayence, " fair Bingen on the 
Rhine" was the object I most wished to see, and in taking 
up my journey to the other river, I was lured by the song 
ever "ringing in my head," and which I had so often 
heard from the lips of fair women — 

" Can I forget that night in June, 
Upon the Danube river." 

I had crossed the Danube in Bavaria, in coming from 
Switzerland to Coburg, but the stream there was compar- 
atively small. It was at Ulm. The Danube, on which 
the town lies, is here joined by the Blau, augmented by 
the Ider above the town, and from this point downwards, 
towards Vienna, it is navigable, 

I saw the river on the tour which I now describe, first 
at Ratisbon, a city of 30,000 inhabitants, where the Dan- 
ube and Regen come together, and where the real beauty 
of the famous river begins. It passes here the celebrated 
Walhalla (i. e.. Hall of the Chosen), the paradise of the 
ancient Germanic tribes, and the present German West 



2l8 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

minster Abbey, or national temple of Fame. This 
magnificent structure cost three million, three hundred 
thousand dollars, and the highest aspiration of the ambi- 
tious Teuton is to have a niche set apart for him in this 
glorious temple. Among the celebrated Germans deemed 
worthy of a place here, and of whom busts may be seen, 
are the Emperors Henry IV., Frederick Barbarossa, and 
Rudolph of Hapsburg; also Gutenberg, Durer, Luther 
(not admitted till after the abdication of King Louis), 
Wallenstein, Frederick the Great, Blucher, Schwarzenberg, 
and Radetzky; Lessing, Mozart, Kant, Schiller, Goethe, 
Humboldt, etc. 

From this temple, which is situated on a high hill, the 
view is superb. In the distance, the dark slopes of the 
Bavarian forest appear ; below the spectator flows the 
Danube ; beyond it stretches the fertile plain of Strau- 
bing, and in clear weather the cloud-capped summits of the 
Alps may be seen. The usual custom is to take steamers 
at Passau, a picturesque and beautiful city of 14,000 in- 
habitants, which lies on a narrow, rocky tongue of land 
formed by the confluence of the Inn with the Danube. 
The picturesque and splendid situation of the town, and 
the variety of views commanded by the neighboring 
heights make one feel amply repaid in visiting Passau, 
which, with the exception of Linz, is the most beautiful 
place on the Danube. From Passau to Linz the journey 
is four and a half hours, and the scenery along the banks 
of the river very interesting. A competent judge, who 
was familiar with both the great rivers, says, "The scenery 
of the Danube is more imposing than that of the Rhine, 
but of a more sombre character ; while the intervals be- 
tween the finest points are often considerable. The moun- 
tains are loftier, and the banks are generally fringed with 
forest or clothed with luxuriant pasture, but the popula- 
tion is poor and sparse, and there is an almost total ab- 
sence of the busy trafific which characterizes its sister 
river," The entire valley, as far as Linz, was the scene of 
many sanguinary encounters during the insurrection of 
the peasantry of Upper Austria. 

At Linz, the finest point on the Danube, I remained a 



A RIDE THROUGH AUSTRIA. 219 

day or two, taking up my abode at the Erzherzog Carl 
(Archduke Charles). Linz, on the right bank of the river, 
which is here crossed by a splendid iron bridge, has a pop- 
ulation of 30,000. I fell in here with a party of English 
iron merchants who were on their way to Vienna to 
attend a convention in the interest of the iron trade. We 
hired an excellent open carriage and drove up and down 
the river, and to the neighboring hills and castles, wher- 
ever we could get the finest views. There are at least a 
dozen of these points from which the great, wide, beauti- 
ful stream, " like a wounded snake, drags its slow length 
along.'' No ; I must change the figure, for there is no 
thing in the scene suggestive of snakes. In every direc- 
tion, and as far as the eye can see, the great white volume 
of molten silver rolls along in gorgeous beauty and gran- 
deur. I must change the figure again, for it is not the 
"white," but "the beautiful, blue Danube" I am describ- 
ing. I will say, then, that the most magnificent and fas- 
cinating mountains in the world, there spread out before 
the beholder, fascinated them.selves with the glorious river 
that was forever laving their feet, seemed to have disrobed 
themselves of their "azure hue" and sent it down to form 
a covering for the pure and virgin stream which was roll- 
ing carelessly in its long and mighty bed, and which now, 
with this azure over its bosom, seemed more beautiful 
than ever. 

Reader, if you think these expressions poetical, remem- 
ber that the Danube is an inspiring river, else wh)^ did 
Strauss immortalize it in song, and why has it called forth 
the sweetest notes of other singers? Of one thing you 
may rest assured ; the writer of these Notes is not a poet, 
and yet even he wrote, after seeing the Danube, the fol- 
lowing lines with which this description closes, leaving the 
Danube to flow on by Vienna, after which, owing to its 
great width and the flat country through which it passes, 
its beauty ceases and its interest is lost, except in a com- 
mercial point of view. 

THE DANUBE. 

Oh, it was in tiie mild September, 
Ah, the blest night I well remember, 



220 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

When, reverencing the Almighty Giver, 

I gazed upon the Danube river. 

The waters blue in peace were sleeping. 

The moon the while its soft watch keeping. 

Whose rays — o'er fairy landscapes stealing, 

A scene of light and love revealing — 

Shone with so rich a radiance never, 

As when they kissed that lovely river. 

That river — who can tell its story ? 

Who paint that scene of liquid glory ? 

That mirror huge, fore'er reflecting 

Green shores and castled cliffs projecting ? 

Rich valleys thence their hot thirst slaking. 

Return of corn and wine were making, 

That decked its banks with fragrant blossom. 

And cast their treasures on its bosom, 

While distant inountains towering o'er it. 

Doffed low their caps of snow before it. 

In ecstasy, all stood admiring, 

A lifetime on those banks desiring, 

Where love and peace and beauty blended 

To grace a scene from heaven descended. 

Some maidens near, the scene enjoying, 

Were with their raptured lovers toying, 

Who gazed into their beauteous faces, 

Oblivious of all times and places, 

Who, whispering forth love's tender stories. 

Were blind to even the Danube's glories. 

But other lords and ladies ever 

Stood gazing on the mystic river. 

The sole regret their lips expressing, 

That distant friends were barred the blessing. 

Oh, is it true that scene so mellowing. 

Was e'er disturbed by cannons' bellowing ? 

That war cries o'er those vales resounded, 

While frenzied men to battle bounded ? 

O yes, through centuries long descending. 

Have serried hosts here met contending ; 

The breezes freighted with their sighing. 

Their blood these azure waters dyeing. 

Here Roman legions tramped and thundered. 

And Goths and Vandals spoiled and plundered. 

Cossack and Russian here united. 

Have oft this scene of beauty blighted ; 

While France, her mighty captain leading. 

The prayers of sister States unheeding, 

Has here impressed her footprints gory. 

And won her highest claims to glory. 

Spears into pruning hooks converted — 



A RIDE THROUGH AUSTRIA. 22 [ 

Strong hands in peaceful arts exerted — 
The generous river ever flowing, 
Its wealth on all around bestowing, 
Have made that sceile again Elysian, 
Fairest that meets a mortal's vision. 

VIENNA. 

"Have you visited Vienna?" said an American gentle- 
man to me at Coburg, He had traveled extensively abroad, 
and was just then direct from the proud capital of the 
Austrian Empire. "No," said I, "I have not been, but 
propose to go." "Well," said- he, "Vienna is the finest 
place in Europe, not excepting even Paris.'' He then 
mentioned a number of interesting things he had witness- 
ed there, and I concluded to go and see for myself. I 
was on my way to Vienna* when I viewed "the beautiful 
blue Danube," which I have just described. The ride 
from Linz, on the Danube, to the great city was made by 
rail, and in the coupe which I entered, I found a family of 
Bulgarians, highly refined, cultivated and communicative. 
I had a seat by the side of an accomplished and beautiful 
young lady, who was of Spanish parents, but born in Bul- 
garia, and spoke fluently six languages — Spanish, Italian, 
German, English, French and Bulgarian. Traveling with 
me was an educated young German, from Dusseldorf on 
the Rhine, who could speak English fluently. It was in- 
teresting to me to see these two persons, who had never 
seen England or America, conversing with each other 
with the utmost ease and freedom, in the English lan- 
guage. On our journey we caught charming glimpses of 
the Danube, along which the road runs, and reached the 
station in Vienna about nightfall. The name of the hotels 
there is legion, but we concluded to go first to the Hotel 
Metropole. On alighting from the hack and going in, we 
found that there was not a vacant room in the immense 
establishment. We next proceeded to the Archduke 
Charles (Erzherzog Carl), where we found a magnificent 
hotel, and secured an excellent room. 

The first night was spent in strolling about the neigh- 
borhood of the hotel, and in viewing the many splendid 
shops in that quarter, which have made Vienna famous 



222 EUROPEAN NOTES, 

among foreign tourists. Meerschaum goods and Russia 
leather articles, the great specialties of the Viennese, were 
exposed in glass front stores in the utmost abundance 
and variety. Next day, a bright sun rose over one of the 
prettiest cities I ever beheld. Grand palaces, many-sto- 
ried stores, cathedrals and heaven-pointing spires, were 
everywhere to be seen. I secured a hack, took a seat 
with the driver on top, and told him to drive me over the 
city, through all the principal streets, and to all the prin- 
cipal objects of attraction. This he did, and in a little 
while after we started we had traversed Ring street, stop- 
ping in front of many interesting places, particularly the 
ruins of the Ring Theatre, which had been swept away 
by a great conflagration a few months before, when nine 
hundred people lost their lives. , The ruins were very sim- 
ilar to those of the Kimball House just after the great fire 
in Atlanta. The church of St. Stephen, the most impor- 
tant edifice in Vienna, was worthy of more time than we 
could give it. The tower affords an extensive view, em- 
bracing the battle fields of Wagrarn, Lobau and Esslingen. 

I traversed again and again the Graben and Kohlmar- 
ket, with their attractive shops, these streets being to 
Vienna what Broadway is to New York. In the Graben 
stands the Trinity Column, very high and imposing, with 
a large group of figures, erected in 1693 on the cessation 
of the plague. I noticed, by the way, in many European 
cities, monuments erected on the deliverance of the people 
from some great epiden^ic or other misfortune. 

Having dismissed the hack, I entered the Hofburg^ 
which has been the residence of the Austrian princes for 
over five hundred years. Here stands a splendid monu- 
ment of the Emperor Francis Joseph, with attendant fig- 
ures representing Religion, l*eace, Justice and Bravery. 
On the south side of the park was the Residence, contain- 
ing the imperial apartments, the Long Corridor in which 
the Emperor granted audience to all comers, the apart- 
ments occupied by Maria Theresa and Joseph H. and the 
military office of the Emperor. 

But the most interesting object connected with the Burg,, 
and that which induced me to visit it, was the world re- 



A RIDE THROUGH AUSTRIA. 223 

nowned Imperial Treasury. Here I saw many rooms, and 
about thirty cases filled with the most valuable and curi- 
ous things in the world — the finest productions of the 
goldsmith's art ; the development of the art of the lapi- 
dary, traced from the fifteenth century down to the pres- 
ent time ; a crystal goblet richly set with jeweh, from the 
treasury of Charles the Bold ; an altar of valuable colored 
stones, the summit being a large emerald ; drinking cups 
of lapis lazuli and enameled with gold ; the celebrated 
gold salt cellai of Benvenuto Cellini, executed for Fran- 
cis I. of France ; private jewels of the imperial family — 
the Austrian regalia, crown, sceptre and imperial robes ; 
crown of the empress ; the celebrated Florentine diamond, 
one hundred and thirty-three and seven-eighths carats in 
weight and valued at $300,000, once the property of 
Charles the Bold, said to have been found by a peasant 
after the battle of Marat, and sold to a Bernese merchant 
for one florin (about fifty cents). It is now set in a hat 
clasp. I beheld also a decoration of the Order of the 
Golden Fleece, composed of one hundred and fifty bril- 
liants, the Frankfort solitaire, forty-two and one-half car- 
ats in weight, being in the centre; a scarf with five hun- 
dred and forty-eight brilliants in it, a pink diamond weigh- 
ing twenty six carats being in the centre. The value of 
all these things is almost fabulous. The imperial "baptis- 
mal'' vessels, state swords used at coronations, and cor- 
onation robes, are also seen. More interesting still was 
the insignia of Napoleon I, as King of Italy ; also the sil- 
ver gilt cradle of the young King of Rome, weighing five 
hundred pounds. Here, too, I saw the "insignia and me- 
morials of the Holy Roman Empire," once preserved at 
Aix la Chapelle, and afterwards at Nuremberg ; the crown 
of Charlemagne, the very crown — ponderous, jeweled, 
beautiful, worn by the great monarch a thousand years ago. 
I thought, as I examined it and felt of its weight, that 
"uneasy" must have been the head that wore such a crown. 
Other relics of the great Charlemagne were his sceptre, 
imperial robes stole, girdle, coronation robes and his swords 
In close proximity were relics of a more solemn nature, a 
piece of wood of the true cross and the lance that pierced 



224 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

the Saviour s side. You smile as you read this, and well 
you may. Mark Twain says he was shown nails from the 
true cross enough to fill a keg. I did not see one, and yet 
visited all the great collections. Of the wood of the true 
cross I did see some fragments in the Tower of London, 
in the Notre Dame, and here, but all together would not 
make one stave in a keg. These relics may be false, but 
they are certainly not abundant. The piece in the impe- 
rial treasury is about nine inches long, one inch in diame- 
ter, and the cross piece (it is shown in the form of a cross) 
is only about four inches long. As to "the lance that 
pierced the Saviour's side," it is a rough-looking weapon, 
about fifteen inches long, and three broad, sharp pointed, 
with an eye for the insertion of the long handle. As to 
whether that is the lance that caused the sacred blood of 
Christ to flow, may well be questioned, but as so many 
millions of people believe that it is, I could but gaze upon 
it with interest. It is deeply interesting from the fact 
that it was exhibited at Charlemagne's coronation, was 
brought from the Holy Land, and is certainly, with the 
"wood of the cross," more than a thousand years old. 

I was so well satisfied with what I saw in the treasury 
that I did not stop to look at the imperial library, with 
its 300,000 volumes and 20,000 manuscripts, nor at the 
cabinet of minerals and natural history, but sought the 
lovely scenery of the park, where I gazed upon many 
statues, splendid works of art, particularly that of the 
Archduke Charles. 

Night was upon me, and my friend insisted that I should 
go with him to a concert hall and hear some fine music. 
We did so, and splendid music it was. Only think ! every 
day while we were there, we had the privilege of hearing 
Strauss' celebrated band play in the People's Garden. 
But this Strauss, himself a great artist, is a brother of the 
world-renowned Strauss, and not the composer, as so 
many believe. And while on the music question, I will 
state that the greatest composer in Europe to-day, now 
that Wagner is dead, is Johannes Brahms, of Vienna, with 
whom I had the pleasure of dining. 

A statue that interested me no little, was that of Prince 



A RIDE THROUGH AUSTRIA. 22$ 

Swarzenburg, the victorious leader of the Allies in the 
war of 1813 and 18 14. I have aire idy described the battle 
at Leipsic, in w'ich he routed Napoleon so completely. 

Vienna has many large and beautiful parks, and among 
them the City Park is celebrated for its shady groves and 
pleasant walks. Every morning I visited the objects of 
interest lying between Ring street and the Danube canal, 
(on which Vienna is situated), until I became quite familiar 
with the locality, and it is the principal part of Vienna, 
and the most interesting to tourists. 

Visitors are generally interested in seeing the Emperor's 
stables, where he has in continual readiness to strve him, 
no less than seven hundred blooded horses. 

The Universit)' is one c-f the most renowned in the 
W'Orld. It lias one hundred and fifty professors, twenty- 
five hundred students, and nearly as many occasional 
hearers. The medical faculty is greatly distinguished, so 
that even here in America, our aspiring young doctors, 
and sometimes our old ones, feel that there is no higher 
privilege than attending lectures at Vienna. A hall is 
provided in connection with the University, where all who 
apply can receive medical advice free from the most cele- 
brated physicians in the world. 

I visited the Belvidere picture gallery, which, so far as 
I could judge, was about equal to the other great galleries 
of Europe, such as Dresden, Munich, Florence and the 
Louvre. I shrink from even attempting a description. 
Select twenty of the finest halls in the South, throw them 
all together, and cover their walls with paintings, and you 
will form some idea of a first class European picture gal- 
lery. 

I was charmed with the appearance of the ladies in 
Vienna, and regard them the most beautiful of all I saw 
during my travels. Their type of beauty seemed to be a 
blended likeness of the blonde Germans on the one hand, 
and the brunette Italians on the other, with an admixture 
of the voluptuous loveliness of the women of the Orient. 
Vienna, with its suburbs, contains a million of inhabi- 
tants, and is all the time improving. During the past few 

15 



22 J EUROPEAN NOTES. 

years whole streets of magnificent buildings have been 
erected. And the Viennese believe in their city as much 
as the Atlantese believe in theirs. They have a saying 
that has grown into a proverb — 



That is, 



"Es giebt nur ein Kaiser stadt, 
Es giebt nur ein Wien." 

"There is but one imperial city, 
There is but one Vienna." 



It is truly a cosmopolitan place. You can sit at a table 
in a hotel or restaurant, and see around you people from 
all parts of the earth — Americans, Englishmen, Germans, 
Frenchmen, Italians, Russians, Turks, Greeks, Jews, and 
even the "almond eyed" Chinese and Japanese, occasion- 
ally. 

Vienna is a very old place, having been founded, if not 
"in the year one," at least in the first century of the 
Christian era, for the Romans then established a town 
there, which, little by little, through the hoary ages, has 
grown to its present gigantic size and importance. 

There is great jealousy between Vienna and Berlin, 
each claiming for itself the third place among the cities of 
Europe. The couplet which I quoted has another coup- 
let connected with it — 

"Es giebt nur ein Kaiser stadt, 
Es giebt nur ein Wein ; 
Es giebt nur ein Rauber nest, 
Und das ist Berlin." 

The last couplet being — 

"There is but one robber's nest, 
And that is Berlin." 

BOHEMIA. 

I expected less and found more in Bohemia than in any 
other country that I visited. I had formed a contennptu- 
ous idjd of Boiiemia for two reasons — first, because the 
wandering bands of dirty, thieving gypsies, that stroll 
through the country, cheating and swindling, and fortune- 
telling, are called Bohemians; secondly, because when a 



A RIDE THROUGH AUSTRIA. 22/ 

man, to use a common phrase, is " played out," and be- 
comes "seedy'' in appearance, and leads a precarious and 
indefinable sort of existence, he is styled a "Bohemian " 
In my early life I lived much of the time in Washington 
City, and there was quite a number of these Bohemian 
gentlemen to be seen about the hotels, in the lobbies of 
the capitol and walking the streets. They were generally 
broken-down politicians of immoral habits,, and made their 
living by asking for it — sometimes being "penny-a line'' 
correspondents for newspapers, or aids to incompetent 
congressmen, who paid them to write their speeches The 
true Bohemian character, as it was then understood, found 
its representative in the notorious Beau Hickman, whom 
I often saw, and who was as complete a "dead beat" as 
the world ever knew. It is said that this man would walk 
into a store, ask to look at a pair of boots, for example, 
put them on, when, bowing and saying, " this is Beau 
Hickman," would walk out unmolested, without ever 
thinking of paying for them. He stopped at a hotel in 
New York, I heard, and at the end of a week, according 
to custom, his bill was presented to him. He had not a 
cent, but asked a gentleman to loan him a thousand dollar 
note, and stand by his side as his security. He walked 
up to the proprietor, and throwing down the note, told 
him he had been insulted in having his bill presented, and 
would pay him and leave the h >use. The proprietor po- 
litely begged his pardon, saying that a gentleman of his 
standing should be troubled no more till he left, and 
handed the money back. He gave it to the gentleman 
standing by his side, remained a long time, was never 
troubled with bills, and left without paying a cent. 

Such being the associations connected with the Bohe- 
mians, imagine my surprise at finding Bohemia one of the 
prettiest, one of the most picturesque, and one of the 
richest countries in the world. The truth is, Bohemian 
is a misnomer for such characters as I have described. 
The gypsies, who number in Europe, all told, about seven 
hundred thousand, came, many suppose, from Egypt origi- 
nally — hence their name ; others think they came from 
India. Certain it is they did not start in Bohemia. When 



228 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

the gypsies first came to France, they came from Bohemia, 
and were called Bohentieiis, and they have since borne that 
name. Besides, the Bohemians are not a wandering peo- 
ple, but love their home and stay at it. When I told a 
gentleman what the term was understood to mean in 
America, he laughed heartily. 

But where is Bohemia? I answer, it lies in Southeast 
Germany, was formerly independent, and now belongs to 
Austria. It is bounded on the north by Saxony, east by 
Prussia, Austria, Silesia and Moravia, west by Bavaria and 
south by Austria. It is almost completely surrounded by 
four mountain chains. The country is believed to have 
been in ancient times a great lake with a few islands, until 
the waters broke through the sandstone formation of the 
eastern mountains, and so formed the channel of the Elbe, 
by which Bohemia is chiefly drained. Within this range 
is one gieat hilly basin, with no plains of any extent, with 
a great variety of geological formations. Minerals and 
precious stones abound in these hills, and here are located 
the great mineral springs of Carlsbad, Eger, Marienbad, 
and others less famous. The country resembles in appear- 
ance our own North Georgia. The climate is delightful, 
sheltered as it is by these mountain ranges, while the lands 
are among the most fertile in Germany. The crops of 
grain and vegetables raised for shipment are enormous, 
and there is no country of Europe better developed as to 
manufactures. I learned from a report made of the pro- 
ducts of this country (and many of them were shipped 
through my own consulate.) that hand spinning, until 
recently, employed 300,000 persons, weaving 130,000, 
lace-making 40,000. There are 1,000,000 cotton spindles 
running, and the Bohemian glass factories produce annu- 
ally $3,000,000 worth of goods that are shipped all over 
the face of the earth, and particularly America. 

It is the greatest country in the world for good beer, 
even ahead of Germany proper. Indeed, I learned that it 
was in Bohemi.i that beer was first carried to the high 
perfection which it has attained in the Fatherland. 

My ride through Bohemia was first from Vienna to 
Prague, where I stopped to view the great curiosities, and 



A RIDE 'IHROUGH AUSTRIA. 229 

from Prague direct to Nuremberg. That ride was one of 
the most pleasant I ever enjoyed, the day deh'ghtful, the 
scenery fine, and 1 had two intelh'gent gentlemen in our 
coupe, who pointed out the different objects of interest 
along the route. Soon after leaving Vienna, we crossed 
the Danube and entereci the plains of Wagram, the ver}^ 
spot where the great battle was fought between Napoleon 
and the Austrians, in July, 1809. The Austrians were 
defeated and retired to a height near by, called Zaym, 
where, after a second engagement, the peace of Schon- 
brunn was concluded. The bravery of Berthier on this 
occasion caused Napoleon to have him created Prince of 
Wagram. The village of Wagram is only eleven miles 
from Vienna, and as peaceful and smiling fields greet the 
vision there as if over them war's thunders had never rat- 
tled. 

In a little while we had passed through a part of Hun- 
gary and a part of Moravia, the original home of the 
Moravian Brethren, described elsewhere in these pages, 
and who have been instrumental in accomplishing such 
mighty and successful missionary labors. A little further 
on, we came in sight of Brunn and the battle-field of Aus- 
terlitz, where the great fight occurred between Napoleon 
and the Allies, in iSo5,and which, perhaps, more than any 
battle in which he was ever engaged, stamped Napoleon 
the great man that he was. The fruits of this battle were 
the close of the campaign, the peace of Presburg, the 
temporary subjugation of all Northern Europe, and, it is 
said, the death of William Pitt, who died almost heart- 
broken at the success of Napoleon. It is said the Allies 
made a mistake in their attack which Napoleon turned to 
his great advantage, and by an exhibition of almost mi- 
raculous strategy, won a name "which before him no 
mortal had won." *'The sun of Austerlitz" furnished the 
great captain with a theme for those inspiring and bold 
apostrophes with which he so often regaled his troops. 

We passed several castles and parks and fine estates 
which, I was told, belonged to Prince Lichtenstein, 
whose wealth, it is said, is second only to that of the 
Emperor. 



230 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Near Brunn is the Spielberg, an old castle, formerly a 
State prison, where the turbulent Baron Trenck, colonel 
of tlie Pandoors, died in 1749. 

Evening was approaching and soon supper time came 
on, and at a station a man brought me a waiter full of 
good things to eat, for which I gave him a ticket that I 
had bought about three hours before. The train stopped 
only a moment, and he told me that a servant would 
call for the waiter and dishes at the next station, I 
thought it was a pretty good plan in a country like Bo- 
hemia, where people, unlike the Bohemian Beau Hickman, 
can be trusted to the last farthing. 

And now we arrived at Prague, the ancient capital of 
Bohemia, with about 200,000 inhabitants, a place ''beautiful 
for situation,'' and nearly nine miles i\\ circumference. It 
is filled with handsome mediaeval buildings and towers, a 
fine cathedral and several superb palaces. I stopped at 
the "Englischer Hof," the best hotel in the city, and next 
morning proceeded first to the "Carlsbrucke" (Charles' 
Bridge). Here I saw a statue of St. Nepomuc, the patron 
saint of Bohemia, who at that very place was thrown into 
the river Moldau and drowned, by order of the king, for 
refusing to tell him what the queen had said to St. John 
at the confessional. According to the legend, the body 
floated for a considerable time in the river, wMth five bril- 
liant stars hovering over the head He was canonized by 
Pope Benedict, after which time multitudes from Bohemia, 
Moravia, and Hungary made pilgrimages to tb.e bridge^ 
especially on the i6th of May, the festival of the saint. 
There is a group of figures on one end of the bridge rep- 
resenting souls in purgatory. I paid a visit to the church 
of the Hussites, built by the followers of John Huss, who 
was burnt at Constance; and near the city 1 saw the bat- 
tle-field where both the leaders, Procopius the "Great" 
and the "Less," fell, which terminated the war that arose 
with such fury after the death of Huss. I saw man\ other 
things which I will not stop to describe, such as the ca- 
thedral, castle, picture gallery and Capuchin monastery, 
Bohemian National Museum and the great University, 
such things being similar to those already described as 



A RIDE THROUGH AUSTRIA. 23I 

connected with other great cities, with, of course, many 
things of vast interest peculiar to Bohemia. Prague is 
one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and can never 
be wanting in interest to those who revere the names of 
"John Huss" and "Jerome of Prague," the harbingers of 
the Reformation, who died heroically at the stake, for 
what they believed to be the truth of God. 

The ride from Prague to Nuremberg was not marked 
by any incident worth special mention, with the excep- 
tion of a pleasant halt at beer-renowned Pilsen, and the 
fine views we had while dashing through the Bohemian 
forests or mountains. 

Two languages are spoken all through Bohemia — Ger- 
man and Sclavonic. If any of my readers think German 
is awkward and difficult, they ought to catch a glimpse of 
some of the signs at the railroad depots in Bohemia. 
Brunn, for example, is written "Brn," and that is not a 
circumstance to some of the names. Sclavonic is certainly 
the most outlandish and incomprehensible of all the lan- 
guages I ever saw, and it sets at defiance all the principles 
of any that I ever studied. 



CHAPTER XII. 



FIRST VIEW OF ITALY 



CROSSING THE ALPS. 



One of the great objects I had in view in going abroad 
was to visit Italy, that most interesting land, historically, 
on the face of the earth, with the exception of Palestine, 
and even this exception need not be made for those who 
are not conversant with sacred history. So far as I was 
concerned, I had been longing ever since I had reached 
European soil, to thrust my foot into the great boot 
whose top rested against the Alps in the north, whose leg 
was laved on the east by the Adriatic and on the west by 
the Mediterranean, while its sole lay on the verge of the 
waters that washed the Sicilian isles. I wanted to visit 
the land with which I had been made familiar in my col- 
lege days, the land of Romulus, Horatius, Caius Marcius, 
the kings, the Caesars, of Livy, Cicero, Sallust, Juvenal, 
Horace, Virgil — in a word, of those great statesmen, he- 
roes, philosophers, poets, painters, who more than two 
thousand years ago — more than three thousand years ago, 
exhibited a genius, a culture, a splendor, a familiarity with 
science, law and art, to which the civilization of the nine- 
teenth century can scarcely aspire. But going to Italy was 
no small journey. People in America imagine that Europe 
is a small continent, and that one can, when once on its 
shores, cross to its farthest limits in a day. This is a 
great mistake. To go to Italy from where I lived in Ger- 
many was like going from Boston to New Orleans, or from 
Atlanta to the City of Mexico. It took me three days to 
make the trip. Between my residence and the historic 
land lay the great, the stupendous Alps, with their cloud- 



FIRST VIEW OF ITALY. 233 

like peaks and eternal snows. But I felt that go to Italy 
I must, or my trip to Europe would be in vain. The 
Egyptians have a saying that he who has not seen Cairo 
has not seen the world. It may be truthfully said that 
he who has not seen Italy has not seen Europe. 

To go to Italy I had to select one of three routes — that 
by the Mt. Cenis tunnel (by the way of Geneva), that by 
the St. Gothard tunnel, then just completed, or that by the 
celebrated Brenner Pass, which would take me through 
the clouds. Wishing to see as much as possible of the 
Alps, having visited other portions, I chose the last, which 
was also the most direct route. 

1 proceeded first from Coburg to Nuremberg, over 
ground that I had often traveled and have before describ- 
ed. From Nuremberg, after spending a few hours pleas- 
antly in the old town, I went to Munich, one of the most 
celebrated cities of Germany, the capital of Bavaria, with 
a population of 170,000, and deserving a much better de- 
scription than I can here give. I stopped a night and 
part of two days here, and viewed the principal streets 
and buildings, stopping at the famous hotel "Four Sea- 
sons." This is the place where there is a picture gallery 
equal to that of Dresden or Berlin, a bronze factory un- 
equalcd by any ('n earth, and beer brewcrits also excel- 
ling all (^hers in the world. It is said that by actual esti- 
mate every man, woman and child in Munich averages a 
half gallon of beer per dRy. The public buildings and the 
private residences of Munich are regarded the finest in 
Germany. 

Here at Munich, I bought my ''rimd rcise billet'"' or 
round trip ticket to Italy, which was good for thirty days, 
and allowed me to stop at pleasure at the following places, 
which I wish to describe in these pages : Verona, Bologna, 
Florence, Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Pisa, Padua, Venice 
and Trent. 

Leaving Munich, we were not long in coming in view 
of the Tyrolean Alps. The ride through Tyrol was 
charming. No such scenery I had ever witnessed, the 
train all the time going up grade, and in the mdst of 
mountains that were piled one upon another "like Pelion 



234 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

upon Ossa," and that looked like p^reat bald banks of 
clouds, lifting their sombre and weird forms into the very- 
skies. The train, in order to make some of the ascents, 
had to wind itself along a track which climbed the awful 
peaks after the fashion of a spiral staircase. It interested 
and amused me to look out of the car window down an 
almost perpendicular distance of over a mile and see the 
very road over which we had passed half an hour before. 
The people that crowded the different stations, gay Tyro- 
lean peasants, with their blood red costumes, interested 
us as much as the scenery. These were mountaineers 
indeed, who would be as ill at ease in a low country as 
fish out of water. We passed many interesting towns and 
villages, took dinner at Innspruck, where the statue of 
Andrew Hofer could be plainly seen, and where the stran- 
ger was impressed with the curious but thrifty capital of 
the Tyrolese. Their real capital, however, is Vienna, for 
Tyrol is now a part of Austria. Later on in the day we 
found ourselves getting higher, still higher, till at last we 
reached Brenner, the highest point on the road, the sum- 
mit of the Alps, and the watershed between the Black Sea 
and the Adriatic. As the train stopped there some time, 
I got out and looked around. I was in the midst of great, 
gray, treeless mountains covered with snow, and the snow, 
though it was in May, was tb.en falling. Little "red 
riding hood" girls gathered around us with Alpine flowers 
for sale, for, however C'">ld the weather or deep the snow, 
somehow the supply of flowers never seemed to be ex- 
hausted. And I can, in imagination, hear even now their 
little girlish voices, crying out, '' Edehveiss ! edelweiss! 
kaufen zie, bitle, inein cdehveiss ! "Noble white! noble 
white ! buy, pray, my noble white flowers !" 

The "Tribune'' thus describes the legend of the Edel- 
weiss : 

"Once there was a maiden — so the legend runs — so fair, 
so pure, so heavenly minded, that no suitor was found 
worthy to win her; and so, though all men vamly sighed 
for her, at last she was metamorphosed into a white star 
like flower, and placed high upon the loftiest mountain 
tops, close to the snow she resembled, to be forever a type 



FIRST VIEW OF ITALY. 235 

of the womanhood that is purest and most lovely. And 
because the flower was only found through peril and toil, 
and upward struggle, it became a saying through all the 
cantons that to win the love that was highest and noblest 
was "to pluck the edelweiss;" and no higher honor could 
any lady merit than to have the little white flower placed, 
as her own emblem, within her gentle hand. So at length 
it grew to be sacred to betrothals, as the orange-blossom 
is to marriage; and no maiden might be won until her 
lover had scaled the perilous heights himself, to seek the 
priceless edelweiss, and lay it at her feet. And, like the 
Scotch white heather, it told in itself the old sweet tale ; 
for if the maiden toc .k his offering, the happy lover might 
hope ; and if she placed it in her girdle or belt, then he 
knew that she was his." 

Not many hours after we left Brenner station, descending 
all the time, signs of a different soil and climate began to 
present themselves. We descended quite rapidly by 
means of a long embankment and two tunnels, till we 
reached a point only 4.500 feet above the sea level. The 
most remarkable part of the line is between Schelleberg 
and Gossensass, which last-named place lies almost per- 
pendicularly 600 feet below it. A fine view of the glacier 
region is here obtained. At Gossensass we had a magnif- 
icent view of the glaciers of Phyrschthal (now let my 
readers try to pronounce that word ; it means simply 
"peach valley"). The train runs high above the river 
Eisach, which reminded me of "the Iser rolling rapidly,'' 
which I had left at Munich. The scenery was still wild, 
rocky, weird and enchanting. Vegetation soon assumed 
a southern character, and vineyards and chestnut trees 
began to appear. We passed here a castle called Frost- 
burg, with its numerous towers and pinnacles, and this is 
the most striking part of the valley of the Eisach, which 
still continued to dash down mountain sides, widening 
and gathering strength at every plunge. At Station Az- 
wary I saw numerous detached pyramids of reddish, clay- 
ey porphyry, most of them covered with slabs of stone. 
Near here are the country seats of the wealthy inhabitants 
of Bozen, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, which we soon 



236 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

reached, and which was once the seat of a great traffic, it 
is said, between Venice and the North. We next entered 
a district of most luxuriant fertihty, resembhng a vast 
vineyard. Having left Bozen, we crossed the Eisach, 
which a little further on ennpties into the Adige, which at 
Station Branzoll becomes navigable. 

At Trent I spent a night simply to get a look at the 
church in which the celebrated Council of Trent was held. 
It is one of the most picturesque places I ever saw, in the 
midst of wild, tall, stony mountains, so high and so near as 
absolut* ly to obstruct the view in every direction. In the 
midst of such a circumscribed place one feels that he can- 
not breathe well. Still the town is pretty, though very 
old, having been founded by the Etruscans, and mention- 
ed by Strabo, Pliny and Ptolemy. It possesses numerous 
palaces of marble, towers, dilapidated old castles and 
broad, well paved streets. The hotels are numerous, large 
and modern, and arc liberally patronized by health and 
pleasure seekers. There is a magnificent cathedral in 
Trent, begun nearly seven hundred years ago ; but the 
St. Maria Maggiore was more interesting from the fact 
that it was in this that the celebrated Council of Trent sat 
in 1545-63. It contains on the walls portraits of the 
members of this Council — seven cardinals, three patriarchs, 
thirty-three archbishops and two hundred and thirty-five 
bishops. rhe Italian language is almost exclusively spok- 
en in Trent. The city now has a population of eighteen 
or twenty thousand. 

Leaving Trent, the train resumed its course in the val- 
ley of the Adige. We passed in sight of a waterfall which 
somewhat resembled Toccoa, the beautiful. We entered 
the land of southern fruits and vineyards and felt, as 
everything wore an Italian appearance, that we were in 
Italy — but we were not yet there. The first Italian sta- 
tion is Pesi, on the west of which I beheld Monte Baldo, 
7,280 feet above the sea level, which separates the valley 
of the Adige from the Lake of Gardo. The road now en- 
ters the celebrated Chiusa de Verona, ox rocky passage, by 
which the Adige penetrates the limestone mountains, and 
you can form some idea of it if you imagine a street with 



FIRST VIEW OF ITALY. 237 

perpendicular sides cut through Stone Mountain from its 
very base. It is a very Thermopylae, and has often been 
the scene of sanguinary conflicts. On a height to the 
right lay Rivoli, which was stormed several times by the 
French, in 1796-7, under Massena, who derived his title 
from this village, and I suppose the Rue Rivoli in Paris 
also thence derived its name. 

Our train passed three stations, crossed the Adige and 
entered the depot at Verona. 

FROM VERONA TO FLORENCE. 

I did notremain in Verona long, but long enough to be- 
come deeply interested in the place. It lies at the base 
of the Alps and contains a population of about 70,000. 
It is situated on the rapid Adige, along whose banks I had 
come from the point where the Eisach empties into it, 
away up in the mountains, and here at Verona it is span- 
ned by five bridges. The city is strongly fortified and 
garrisoned by 6,000 men, and next to Venice is the princi- 
pal town in Venetia. The city, as may be supposed, is 
very old, having been founded by the Rhaetians and 
Etruscans, and being a border town has been the battle 
ground of contending nations forages. 

I beheld here many unique and beautiful medijeval 
buildings, some of which reflected the genius of Michael 
Sammicheli, one of the most famous architects of the 
world, who once resided here. Here are also some mon 
uments of Fra Giacondo, a master whose works are to be 
found at Paris, Venice and Rome. The painted facades 
of the houses, particularly of the palaces, are very at- 
tractive. 

Verona has given to the world some of its greatest 
painters, but strange to say, Paul Veronese, as he is called, 
Avhose works I had so often witnessed on the Continent, 
belonged more particularly to the Venetian school. 

I was much interested in viewing the Arena, erected by 
Diocletian in 284, an amphitheatre which was capable of 
seating comfortably 25,000 spectators, and in which 70,- 
000 could stand. A fragment only of the external wall 
remains. To show what a singular thing fashion is, the 



238 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

pillars of the amphitheatre, it is said, were left rough unde- 
signedly, and yet they became a model for the favorite 
'•^rustica' pillars of the Roiaissance. So it is with many 
other things. A lady, perhaps, in Paris, whose hair would 
not grow, gave rise to the short hair custom of a few years 
ago ; and some one who could not conveniently "keep her 
hair out of her eyes,'' gave rise, perhaps, to the custom of 
"bangs;" while, perhaps, some poor creature with curva- 
ture of the spine, started the unnatural attitude of the 
"Grecian bend." But one had as well be out the world as 
out of the fashion — so "they say." But how is the glory 
of this place departed ! A small theatre is usually kept 
up in the centre, while the arcades, seventy-two in num- 
ber, are let by the town to traders of every description. 

The Palazzo del Consiglio was an exceedingly beautiful 
and attractive place, erected by the great Giacondo. 
Abi.vc are statues of celebrated natives of ancient Verona 
■ — -Cornelius Nepos, a name familiar to every school girl 
or bv:)y, Catullus, Vitruvius, the younger Pliny, and Aure- 
lius Macer, the friend of Virgil. In the middle of the 
square is a statue of Dante, who fled to Verona after his 
banishment from Florence. 

I did not stop to examine the gorgeous tombs of the 
Scaligers, who for upwards of a century were the presi- 
dents of the Republic of Verona. 

But that which made Verona most interesting to me 
was its association with the name of William Shakespeare. 
When I saw two natives, well dressed and cultured in ap 
pearance, talking in the streets, the thought would arise, 
There are Shakespeare's " Two Gentlemen of Verona." 
But more interesting still is an object shown in the south- 
eastern part of the city. In the Capello street, a hat over 
the gateway of a court opposite the palace of St. Boniface, 
is said to indicate the house of Juliet's parents (Capuletti). 
The play of "Romeo and Juliet'' was founded on events 
which actually took place at Verona. "Escalus, prince of 
Verona," was Bartolomeo della Scala, who died about the 
beginning of the fourteenth century. And now, to one 
familiar with the world renowned, love sick drama, what 
a privilege it was to stand and view the real balcony (we 



FIRST VIEW OF ITALY. 239 

could imagine it real, anyway) where Juliet sat in all her 
loveliness, when Romeo exclaims : 

" But soft, what light through yonder window breaks ? 

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. 

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon 

That is already sick and pale with grief. 

That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she." 

In another part of the city is situated the old Francis- 
can Monastery, where a partially restored chapel contains 
a rude sarcophagus called the tomb of Juliet. But it is 
so called without the slightest authority, and credulous 
and sentimental people may find, and do find it, a suitable 
place at which to give forth their tears and sighs, yet to 
the sober minded they render themselves more ridiculous 
than lovers weeping over the tomb of Eloise and Abe^ 
lard ; or, what is more to the point, than Mark Twain 
wringing his tear-wet (?) handkerchief over the grave of 
Adam, his " blood relative." 

But 1 expect to visit Verona again, and must leave. 
Getting into a coupe where I found a priest with his broad 
brimmed hat and long, black gown on (whose like I am to 
see now until my disgust shall grow utterly fatigued), I 
started on my journey southward. In about three hours 
we came to Mantua, a place where I was advised not to 
stop on account of the huge mosquitoes that ever infested 
the place. That was ''a tale of Mantua" which I had not 
expected to hear, so I contented myself with viewing the 
town from the dtpot. Wliile it has its 25,000 people, its 
cathedral, art galleries and other attractions, that which 
made it chiefly interesting was the fact that it was the 
ancient home of Virgil, who was born about three miles 
from where I then stood The wonder to me was that a 
man could write sucli poems as the Georgics and the 
^neid while troubled with mosquitoes. What might he 
not have done had he been in a land where there were no 
mosquitoes .■' The great Saurin said the profoundest 
meditations of a philosopher could be disturbed by the 
buzzing of a fly. Then what poetic dreams could be dis- 
sipated by the singing of a mosquito? Some elegantly 
dressed ladies about the depot suggested the idea that the 



240 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

art of female adornment must have originated here. To 
say the least of it, wherever dresses are worn, mantua- 
makers are found. 

The whistle blows, we are locked in again, and on we go 
until we reach Modena, the ancient Mutina, a place of 
about 50,000 inhabitants. After the murder of Caesar, 
Brutus was besieged hereby Antony for four months, but 
the latter was defeated by Octavian, and compelled to 
raise the siege. After killing Caesar, Brutus had a hard 
time of it, and at length plunged the sword into his own 
heart, doub less more willingly than he did the dagger into 
the heart of Caesar. 

Modena once had an art gallery almost unequaled by 
any on earth, but Duke Francesco got into a "tight place" 
pecuniarily, and ha(i to sell his master pieces. These 
were bought by the art loving and rich Augustus the 
Strong, of Saxony, and they now adorn the world renown- 
ed Dresden gallery. A specialty of Modena is terracotta 
work, and evidences of proficiency in the art may be seen 
in every window. 

On we go, passing many a scene of liistorical interest, 
until we come in sight of another great city, and that Bo- 
logna, notorious in many parts of the world, if for nothing 
else, on account of its sausages. It is said that Cincin- 
nati is "haunted by the ghosts of swine," there are so 
many slaughtered there. It is difficult to tell what kind 
of ghosts haunt Bologna, whether cats, dogs, or horses, 
for who can tell what these sausages are made of? One 
man said he knew they were made of horse flesh, for he 
ate a great many for supper and had a nlght.7nare after- 
wards. Certain it is that these sausages are made here 
by wholesale and shipped to all parts of the world. 

But really, Bologna is a great city of 100,000 inhabit- 
ants, and one of the most important places in Italy. It 
is situated in a fertile plain at the baie of the Apennines, 
and possesses no less than one hundred and thirty church- 
es and twenty monasteries, with an old and celebrated 
University. Thia old town, during the Punic wars, es- 
poused the cause of Hannibal, one of the greatest gener- 
als, by the way, that ever lived. It was to me an interest- 



FIRST VIEW OF ITALY. 24 1 

ing fact that the eyes of the great Carthagenian had once 
gazed on the very scenes that then occupied my atten- 
tion. The University, which was founded in 11 19, once 
had as a teacher the renowned Irenaeus, and other teach- 
ers of greatest fame, so that no less than 10,000 students 
flocked to it annually. There are now only 400 students, 
and strange to say, some of the professors are women. 
In the 13th century, Novella d' Andrea, a lady of great 
personal attractions, was a professor, and it is said she 
was always concealed by a curtain during her lectures. 
It is quite different with the ladies who lecture to us in these 
days. They take us behind the curtain with them. 

I was strongly tempted to remain In Bologna longer, 
for there is no city of its size in the world richer in art 
treasures or objects of historical interest, but Florence was 
my objective point, and after a short stay, on we went 
until that glorious city came in sight. 

BEAUTIFUL FLORENCE. 

I parted with my readers in the last paragraph just as we 
came in sight of Florence, appropriately called "the beauti- 
ful," which we beheld situated in a lovely valley, on both 
banks of the Arno. It is surrounded by spurs of the classic 
Apennines, which here looked like huge banks of clouds 
that, tired with their aerial suspension, had come down to 
earth for repose. But I will let another describe the impres- 
sion which the first view of this splendid city produces on 
the beholder : "Who can describe the enchanting view of 
this art-city of Tuscany and the world, Florence, with its 
surrounding gardens? Who paint the distant horizon, 
from Fiesole smiling at us with its fair towns, to the blue 
ridge of the Lucchese mountains standing out against the 
golden background of the western sky? Here everything 
betrays the work of generation after generation of ingeni 
ous man. Like a water lily rising on the mirror of the 
lake, so rests on this lovely ground the still more lovely 
Florence, with its everlasting works and its inexhaustible 
riches. From the bold, airy tower of the palace, rising 
like a slender mast, to Brunelleschi's wondrous dome of 
the cathedral ; from the old house of the Spini to the 



242 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Pitti Palace, the most imposing the world has ever seen ; 
from the garden of the Franciscan convent to the beauti- 
ful environs of the Cascine, all are full of incomparable 
grace. Each street of Florence contains a world of art ; 
the walls of the city are the calyx containing the fairest 
flowers of the human mind. 

The population of Florence, formerly the capital of the 
grand duchy of Tuscany, and for five years capital of the 
kingdom of Italy, is now 125,000, and with its suburbs, 
170,000. It is distinguished for many things. First, I 
should name its beautiful and healthful situation in the 
upper or mountain region, bearing about the same relation, 
in this respect, to the other Italian cities that Atlanta 
does to the other cities of Georgia. The weather in sum- 
mer is warm, and in winter the v/inds are bleak, but for 
an all-year climate it is about the best in Italy, It is the 
home of the celebrated Medici family, one of the most 
remarkable ever known in the world. The Medicis were 
originally rich merchants. The first one who became a 
ruler was Giovanni. He was succeeded by the celebrated 
Cosmo, who won the distinction of "'Pater Patriae,^' words 
inscribed on his tomb, and which in our country have been 
given to one much worthier to bear them. He was suc- 
ceeded by his son Pietro, and he by Lorenzo, called the 
Magnificent, who, like his grandfather, expended his 
wealth liberally in the support of art and science. He 
had three sons, Pietro, Giovanni, who was made a cardi- 
nal at thirteen and became afterwards Pope under the title 
of Leo X., and Giuliano. Pietro, his successor, who was 
talented but imprudent, involved Florence in war with 
Charles VIII. of France, which led to his own expulsion 
and the occupation of Florence by the French. After his 
death, the young cardinal became head of the family, and 
he effected the restoration of the Medicis in Florence and 
shortly afterwards was elected Pope. The government of 
Florence then fell to Giuliano, who, loving literature more 
than politics, resigned it into the hands of his nephew, 
Lorenzo, who governed Florence for some time under the 
direction of the Pope. Now com.es a very interesting 
part of this history. This Lorenzo married Magdeleine 



FIRST VIEW OF ITALY. 243 

de Boulogne, of the royal house of France, and by her he 
had a daughter, the famous Catherine de Medici, after- 
ward queen of France and one of the worst women that 
ever Hved. I saw a full life-size portrait of this woman 
when I was in Paris, and I can never forget the counte- 
nance of the woman. She it was who caused her son to 
put Francis to death by having poison poured into his 
ear, and she it was who caused the St. Bartholomew mas- 
sacre. Before her father married her mother, he had an 
illegitimate child by an African slave, whose name was 
Alessandro. This son of an African slave became ruler of 
Florence, with the title of duke, but was so licentious and 
unpopular that he was soon assassinated. The Medici 
family became extinct in 1737. It was one of the richest, 
most intellectual, most powerful families ever known to 
earth. One of the greatest curiosities in Florence is the 
"New Sacristy,'' built by Michael Angelo, which contains 
the monuments of the Medicis. It is perhaps the most 
wonderful collection of tombs in the world and cost, first 
and last, no less than eighty million dollars. 

Florence is distinguished for having the finest art col- 
lections in the world. Even the Louvre, and Dresden, 
and Munich, and Berlin pale before the unrivaled and 
indescribable splendors of the Uf^zi and Pitti Palace gal- 
leries. The city is all the time crowded with visitors from 
all parts of the world, particularly English and Americans, 
who come to behold these treasures of art. It would take 
a book, much less a short article, to describe even the 
master-pieces that adorn these galleries. In other Euro- 
pean galleries, if even one piece or a drawing can be shown 
from Michael Angelo or Raphael, it is considered a treas^ 
ure giving character to the whole collection. Here at 
Florence, where Michael Angelo lived and labored, are 
innumerable works of the great master, and so with all 
the great painters. The richest little collection in the 
world is that of the famous Tribune in the Uffizi. One is 
so bewildered in seeing the great paintings in Florence,, 
that he does not know what to say about them, or how to 
write about them. Even Mark Twain, who made a visit- 
to Florence especially to see these galleries, described only. 



244 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

two pictures, that of Moses and the celebrated Venus, by 
Titian. As I remained several days, my plan was to view 
the pictures every morning until I became fatigued, and 
then I would stroll about the city and inspect the other 
wonders of the place. I have already remarked that the 
city is located on both banks of the Arno. On the street 
or quay that runs along the river's bank are innumerable 
fine hotels, and curiosity shops that dazzle you with the 
brilliant wares with which they tempt the tourist. The 
chief commodities consist of fine mosaics, for which Flor- 
ence is renowned. These mosaics form the principal in- 
dustry of the place. They are sold to visitors and also 
shipped to all parts of the world. 

I visited the great cathedral, which, in addition to being 
a wonder of architecture, is, of course, filled with fine 
paintings, any one of which would render an American 
city famous. I also visited the celebrated Baptistery, an 
octagonal building which was highly extolled by Dante, 
(who, by the way, was a resident of Florence until his ban- 
ishment, before referred to) and which contains those mag- 
nificent bronze doors, three in number, which are celebra- 
ted the world over. The second door is a marvel of art, 
and is the one which Michael Angelo pronounced worthy 
to form the entrance to Paradise. It represents ten scenes" 
from' Scripture history: (i) Creation and Expulsion from 
Paradise; (2) Cain Slaying his Brother; (3) Noah after the 
Flood ; (4) Abraham's Sacrifice ; (5) Esau and Jacob ; (6) 
Joseph and his Brethren ; (7) Promulgation of the Law on 
Sinai ; (8) The Walls of Jericho ; (9) Battle against the Am- 
orites ; (10) The Queen of Sheba. 

Other great churches, great museums and palaces are 
there, but I must desist ; 1 have said enough to show that 
Florence is the home of art. Indeed, what ancient Rome 
■was in the development of the arts and sciences, this and 
much more Florence has been in modern times. The 
modern Italian language and literature have emanated 
principally from Florence, and the people there to day are 
the most cultured and the most polished to be found in 
Italy. The whole city wears an air of refinement delight- 
ful to behold. Going into the Uf^zi gallery, I noticed a 



FIRST VIEW OF ITALY. ' 245 

great variety of shops where curious wares were sold. 
Among these was a place where a woman was selHng 
canes. One of these canes was different from anything I 
ever saw. I asked the price in French (the Italians nearly 
all speak French), and was told ten francs. The cane con- 
sisted of a rod of some metal over which button like bits 
of bone were placed and nicely glued together. I offered 
her five francs and she gladly took it, and I the cane, which 
I carry with me now, and it is greatly admired. It was 
even a curiosity in Italy, for when I reached my hotel in 
Rome, an Italian gentleman told me he had never seen 
one like it. My object in mentioning this is to speak of 
a practice common among Italian shop-keepers, and those 
in many other countries in Europe. That is, to ask twice 
as much for an article as they will take. If travelers would 
keep this in mind they could save a vast amount in mak- 
ing their purchases. When one goes to Florence he will 
wish, of course, to buy either copies or photographs of 
some of the great paintings, and would do well to keep 
the rule in view to offer just one half of what is asked for 
the articles. 

Florence is surrounded by beautiful environs, and the 
little adjacent towns, and castles, and convents are pic- 
turesque in the highest degree. Near Florence is the 
celebrated convent of Vallambrosa, founded eight hundred 
years ago, and which is occupied now as a forest school. 
It is situated in a valley covered with a dense forest, the 
large trees of which, casting their leaves and covering the 
ground with them, suggested the Miltonic phrase, "Thick 
as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks in Vallambrosa." 
It is said that this convent was built by a wealthy young 
man of Florence, whose name was Giovanni (or "John," 
as we would call him), who, having lived a life of profli- 
gacy, resolved to spend the remainder of his days doing 
penance. His brother Hugo having been slain, a custom 
required that he should slay the assassin. Descending on 
Good Friday from a Florence church, he met the assassin 
at a narrow part of the road. The latter dropped on his 
knees and begged for mercy. John, moved by a generous 
impulse, forgave him, and resolved to renounce the world 



246 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

and its passions. He retired to one convent, but the dis- 
cipline was too loose, and so he went to the sequestered 
"vale of Vallambrosa," and built this convent. Well, if it 
has accomplished no other good, it gave Milton a fine 
figure in the grandest of all poems. 

FROM FLORENCE TO ROME. 

Before leaving Florence I wish to make a general re- 
mark. It has reference to the character of the Italian 
people. We in America having formed our opinions from 
the few organ-grinders and fruit venders that we have 
seen in this country, are in the habit of thinking the Ital- 
ians a lazy, filthy, thriftless race. This is true of the 
lowest classes, peasants, or lazzaroni, among whom are 
the most disgusting beggars on the face of the earth. But 
if I am to judge of the Italians by the people of Florence, 
I would say that they are as intellectual and refined as 
any in the world. Indeed, from its infancy, two thousand 
years ago, Florence has been the seat of learning and re- 
finement. J ust think of the men who have made Florence 
their home — Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Macchiavelli, 
Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Benvenuto Cellini, 
Galileo, Guicciardini, Amerigo Vespucci, Cosmo and 
Lorenzo de Medici, and Filicajo, the chief lyric poet of 
Italy. Lord Beaconsfield said : "You cannot stroll fifty 
yards, you cannot enter a church or a palace without be- 
ing favorably reminded of the power of human thought. 
In Florence the monuments are not only of great men^ 
but of the greatest. You do not gaze upon the tomb of 
an author who was a great master of composition, but of 
one who formed the language. The illustrious astronomer 
is not the discoverer of a planet, but the revealer of the 
whole celestial machinery. The artist and politician are 
not merely the first sculptors and statesmen of their time, 
but the inventors of the very art and the very craft in 
which they excelled." 

The Italians of modern times, some of them, are 
scarcely less distinguished. Where was there ever a greater 
statesman than Cavour, a greater poet than Alfieri, a 
greater general than Garibaldi, or a greater ruler than 



FIRST VIEW OF ITALY. 247 

Victor Emanuel? And as to painters, sculptors and ar- 
chitects, Italy is full of them. 

The ladies of Florence struck me as especially beauti- 
ful, and, with the exception of being darker, looked very 
much like our better class American women. One of 
them was at the depot waiting for her husband, who had 
been on a visit to Vienna. She came in her nice little 
one-horse carriage as they do here. The train rolled up, 
out sprang the husband from the coiipe^ and into the arms 
of his wife he fell. They kissed three times, (there is 
more kissing done on the part of families in Germany and 
Italy than in America) and then, arm-in-arm, they walked 
off to the vehicle and drove away, doubtless to some lovely 
Florentine home. 

It is astonishing how a stranger can feel at home at 
such a strange place in a foreign land. It is all because 
he has money to pay his way. Henry Clay once said to 
a man who was going to Europe and who asked for a letter 
of introduction, "Sir, have you got money? Money speaks 
all languages." Now, Florence is a place where money 
holds sway to a great extent, although it is said to be the 
cheapest place in Italy to live. The florin^ one of the 
oldest and most common of coins, was invented here and 
has been adopted by many countries, and I found it 
specially common in Austria. 

From Florence to Rome is about a day's journey, and 
there are two routes. I selected the most interesting in a 
historical point of view, and I will partly leave my readers 
to imagine the privileges and enjoyments of a day spent 
in going through the very heart of Italy. In my coupe 
were a gentleman and his wife, a young married couple, 
going on a visit to some friend several stations off. They 
could not speak a word of English, nor I one word of Ital- 
ian, and yet by signs and smiles, we got w'ell acquainted 
and the time passed pleasantly. When they got out, I 
was left alone, and I did not fancy traveling alone, locked 
up in an Italian coupe, away from conductors and protect- 
ors. How did I know what bandit or other rufifian might 
get in as has been so often done ? For instance, a man 
was murdered by his traveling companion in a coupe on 



248 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

the Brighton railway in England. A German consul was 
severely wounded and robbed in a similar way, while pass- 
ing through the Mont Cenis tutmel. And there I was, 
alone in a coupe, liable to have disagreeable company at 
any moment. A station was reached ; the train stopped. 
Just as I expected, in came, with a huge satchel, a burly 
Italian, and we were locked in together. I eyed him close- 
ly and bowed to him politely. We passed through a short 
tunnel. I then handed him some cigars. He shook his 
head. Worse and worse. We now passed a region of tun- 
nels, and, by the way, between Bologna and Milan there 
are no less than eighty, and between Bologna and Pisa not 
less than nineteen, and between Florence and Rome I 
know not how many. Just before entering a long tunnel, 
my companion unceremoniously jerked his satchel down 
from the rack, and, unlocking it, took out a great navy 
pistol and buckled it on him. I thought I had "caught it 
at last," and somehow or other my heart had an upward 
tendency toward my mouth. I looked at the window to 
see if there was any possibility of escape, in case I came 
to the worst. There was no hope. I looked at my com- 
panion and he was in the act of lying down, and soon fell 
asleep. I was much relieved, and enjoyed the scenery 
with a greater relish, being very careful not to disturb the 
slumbers of my friend. I think he was a cattle hunter, 
and perhaps had some misgivings as to who I was, as he 
was not used to foreigners. 

We passed a hill where no less a person than the great 
Julius Caesar once held a consultation with his generals. 
We passed LakeTrasimene, of which I had, in my college 
days, so often heard Professor Dabney speak, and of which 
I had read as the scene of one of the greatest battles of 
Hannibal, when so many were slain that the waters of the 
Sangiiinarius, a little stream which we crossed near the 
lake, ran blood. 

On and on we went, stopping for a few minutes at towns 
renowned in ancient and modern history, until we reached 
a river, the sight of whose waters made an impression on 
me which I can never forget. It was the Tiber — the Tiber 
of Caesar, the " yellow Tiber" of Horace, the Tiber whose 



FIRST VIEW OF ITALY. 249 

history outrivals even that of the Nile. Along the banks 
of this river we went for over a hundred miles. About 
the time we reached the river we came to a beautiful 
bridge, the veritable Ponte Felice, built by Augustus, two 
thousand years ago (restored in the 15th century), and 
over which in ancient times, and long before railroads 
were ever dreamed of, all the trafific was carried between 
Rome and the northeastern part of Italy. And now, 
on looking to the right, I beheld an object which thrilled 
me. It was Mount Soracte, the Soracte of Horace and 
Virgil, a limestone ridge about three miles long, with pre- 
cipitous sides. The privilege, the delight of gazing on 
that mountain which had inspired those ancient poets, 
will be appreciated by every reader acquainted with classic 
history. 

We passed several ancient and modern battle fields, 
many convents and nunneries, multitudes of old castles, 
beautiful mountain peaks, some of them the seats of the 
ancient gods, while on the left towered in blue and pic- 
turesque grandeur the Sabine Hills and Alban Mountains. 
I looked to the right, and lo ! the dome of St. Peter ap- 
peared. 



CHAPTER XIII, 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 

FIRST DAY IN ROME. 

As I gazed upon the dome of St. Peter's, which towered 
majestically above even the other superb structures around 
it ; as the train went whizzing by old ruins forever memo- 
rable in Roman history, here an old castle, there an old 
wall, yonder the ancient aqueducts, in the distance the 
baths of Diocletian ; as the city itself, spread out in the 
widely extending canipagna, burst upon my vision, I felt 
as if the dream of my life was about to be realized, and 
my nerves quivered with delight in contemplation of the 
rich enjoyments that lay before me. It is difficult to de- 
scribe one's feelings on the first view of the Eternal City. 
When Martin Luther first caught a glimpse of it, he ex- 
claimed, " Hail, holy Rome ! made holy by the blood of 
the martyrs spilt there." I felt that, having ascended 
round by round the ladder of European travel, I was then 
upon the veiy top, from whose height I was to see things 
with which I should be satisfied and filled. Recollections 
of Roman history, dreamlike, crowded into my mind. The 
"flight of birds;" the "sow and nine farrow;'' the fate of 
Virginia; false Sextus and the ruin of Lucrece ; the strug- 
gle over the Sabine women ; the cackling of the geese ; the 
feat of Marcus Curtius ; the sacrifice of Caius Mucins 
Loyola; Horatius keeping the bridge; the weighing of 
the iron sword of Camillus ; Nero fiddling while Rome 
was burning ; magnificent triumphal processions of the 
conquerors ; scenes in the forum ; the matchless speeches 
of Cicero; the undying verse of Horace, Virgil and Juve- 
nal; the assassination of Caesar; the death of Brutus; 
crowds rushing to the gladiatorial shows ; melancholy 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 25 I 

processions of augurs and soothsayers ; the surrender of 
Coriolanus to his mother ; panoplied men wading through 
blood to the throne; a thousand altars smoking with in- 
cense ; decay and ruin ; magnificent temples of unearthly 
grandeur ; the wholesale massacre of Christians ; the bones 
of myriad martyrs ; a lonely apostle in chains, with a guard 
at his side; scarlet robes and triple crowns; great galleries 
of world-renowned paintings and sculptures ; these things 
in incoherent and anachronic order occupied my thoughts 
like a wild and incoherent dream. I was awaked from my 
revery by the blast of the whistle, which announced that 
W£ were in Rome, rightly called the Eternal City, because, 
since the legends of the origin of the city are discredited 
by the best authorities, there is no known period of the 
past when Rome was not. The "general passenger de- 
pot'' in which I alighted is not unlike those in large cities 
in this country. Indeed, the depot and everything around 
it are modern being in New Rome, or the Strangers' 
Quarter, where are innumerable splendid hotels, stately 
residences and wide and beautiful streets. The city num- 
bers now 300,000, and looks a little like Baltimore. In 
the time of the Caesars it numbered one million five hun- 
dred thousand. 

Most of the American tourists stop at the renowned 
Quirinal, or International, or Continental hotels, near the 
depot. These are the Fifth Avenues, Windsors and Grand 
Pacifies of Rome. As I wished to go into the heart of 
Old Rome, I concluded to stop at the Minerva, a mile and 
a halt away, near the banks of the Tiber. I hired a hack, 
and it seemed to me there M^ere hundreds then in waiting 
— nice, new carriages, with handsome horses, and ready to 
take you anywhere in the city for one franc (about twenty 
cents). 1 will here state that Rome is better supplied 
with cheap, excellent hacks than any city in the world, 
and this circumstance renders sight-seeing much more 
pleasant and expeditious than it would otherwise be. 
"Hacks and matches,'' said Mrs. Dr. Taylor to me, "are 
the cheapest things in Rome." That ride to the Hotel 
Minerva ! It was charming. First along the wide street 
of the Stranger's Quarter, then through the magnificent 



252 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Corso, the principal street — the Broadway of Rome — now 
through some of the narrow, queer, ancient streets, passing 
palaces, ruins, gorgeous art stores, sidewalks lined with 
people from all lands, wearing costumes of every descrip- 
tion, among which the broad-brimmed hals and long gowns 
of the countless priests were most conspicuous ; at last the 
hackman drove up in front of the Hotel Minerva, in one 
of the most thickly settled portions of Old Rome. The 
hotel is very old and first-class, though not so gorgeous 
and extensive as those named above. Marble statues 
stood in the halls, along the stairways and in all the 
public places about the establishment. My room was 
elevated, neat and comfortable, while my attendant was a 
German with whom I could converse. After refreshing 
myself with a bath, I came down and was met by an 
English-speaking guide. One word about guides. Let 
every one who travels in Europe always secure a guide. 
Those who do not are "penny wise and pound foolish." 
These guides know all about the places to be visited. It 
is their business, their study, and with a good guide a man 
can see more in one day than he could in a week without 
him. I secured this one, who proposed to take me to 
some objects of interest that very evening. 

Wishing to view the ancient ruins first, we had to go but 
a few steps, and entered the church of St. Maria Sophia 
Minerva, which was erected on the ruins of a temple of Mi- 
nerva, founded by Domitian, andis the only Gothic church 
at Rome. Here stand the very pillars used in the ancient 
temple, and by their sides, and on the walls, some of the 
great works of art of masters of the middle ages. The one 
object here, however, that I wished to see was Michael 
Angelo's "Christ with the Cross," which was erected in 
1 52 1. It is the most singular representation of Christ I 
have seen, and not my conception of his personal appear- 
ance at all, but art critics have all pronounced in favor of 
it. A learned critic says, "The nudity of the figure is just- 
ified by the master's intention to portray the Risen Christ, 
but it is now marred by a bronze drapery." 

In front of this church, in the centre of the plaza, is a 
marble elephant, on the back of which is a small obelisk, 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME, 253 

placed there by Bernint in 1667, being one of those which 
are said to have once been in front of the temple of Isis. 

Right in sight of where I stood, was the most celebra- 
ted building in the world, the best preserved of all the 
ancient ruins of Rome, the renowned Pantheon, which 
stood as it stands now when our Lord entered the world. 
This building, which has been at once the admiration and 
the despair of the architects of all ages, deserves a more 
extensive description than I can give here, I visited it re- 
peatedly, as it was only a square from my hotel, and it was 
one of the spots around which I loved to linger. It was 
built of brick, which leads to the remark that bricks are 
about the most durable material out of which to construct 
houses. 1 saw bricks in Rome three thousand years old, 
in a perfect state of preservation. The walls of this build- 
ing are twenty feet in thickness, and were originally cov- 
ered with marble and stucco. The ground around the 
building has been gradually raised by the dust and rub- 
bish of centuries until it is now twenty feet higher than it 
was when the temple was built, and comes up even with 
the top step. Originally it was necessary to enter the 
building by a flight of marble steps. Excavations are now 
going on at the rear and on the sides of the building, and 
it was often a pleasant pastime for me to stop and see 
the workmen, as they dug up one after another of the in- 
teresting mementoes of the past. The excavations in 
front had to be discontinued, as they interfered with the 
traffic of the street. I entered the portico, which was 
thirty-six yards wide and fourteen yards deep, and was 
supported by thirty-six Corinthian columns of granite, 
each one being thirteen feet in circumference and thirty- 
nine feet in height. On either side of the immense origi- 
nal door were niches in which once stood colossal statues 
of Augustus and his son-in-law, Agrippa. An inscription 
on the frieze states that the latter caused the building to 
be erected B C. 27. 

0&^ going into the interior the effect is very fine. The 
building is lighted wholly by an aperture in the centre of 
the dome, through which, it being never closed, alternate 
sun and rain have come for two thousand years, the rain 



254 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

passing through holes in the floor and flowing into the 
Tiber. The effect produced by this opening is so fine that 
it is supposed the building was called Pantheon from its 
resemblance to "the vault of heaven." In the walls are 
seen niches in which once stood statues of the gods, in- 
cluding those of Mars, Venus and Csesar. The diameter 
and height of the building are the same, nearly one hun- 
dred and forty feet. In 609 it was consecrated by Pope 
Boniface IV. as a Catholic church, and it is now known as 
the St. Maria Rotonda The two bell towers were erected 
by Pope Urban VIII. and are derisively called "asses 
ears." To the right of the high altar is the tomb of King 
Victor Emanuel. To the left of the third altar is the 
beautiful tomb of Raphael, the greatest artist that ever 
lived, Michael Angelo, perhaps, excepted. The Sistine 
Madonna at Dresden, as before remarked, was Raphael's 
greatest work and the greatest painting in the world, and 
on the altar here is a fine statue of the Madonna by Lo- 
ronzetto, executed in accordance with Raphael's last will. 

Back of the Pantheon are seen the ruins of the baths of 
Agrippa, their proximity to the Pantheon giving rise 
to the exploded conjecture that the building originally 
belonged to the baths and was afterwards converted into 
a temple. 

Having mentioned baths, I had as well dispose of that 
subject here. The baths of Rome were wonderful, sever- 
al of which I saw. The Thermae of Diocletian, the most 
extensive, were constructed at the beginning of the 4th 
century. The circumference of these baths is said to have 
been two thousand yards, and the number of daily bath- 
ers three thousand. The baths of Caracalla accommo- 
dated sixteen hundred bathers at once, and were the most 
magnificent in the world. Many master-pieces of art, in- 
cluding the Farnese Bull, Hercules, Flora at Naples, and 
valuable mosaics were found here. Of course, there were 
other public baths in Rome, but these were the most im- 
portant. It was perhaps largely owing to the free and 
daily use of water in that hot and unhealthy climate that 
the Romans arrived at such high intellectual and physical 
perfection, and it might be well if we of these Southern 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 255 

States sI^'J^^ imitate the example of the ancients in this 
particula These baths could be used to advantage on 
multitude '^^ filthy people that I saw in Rome at this day 
and time 

Anothc'' interesting object that I visited in this vicinity 
was the l^ieatre of Marcellus, which was begun by Caesar 
and comt'^t^<^ B- C. 14 by Augustus. It was anciently 
said that -^^ Roman people required two things, bread 
and publP shows, and before I get through with these 
Notes m'' readers will think that it was a true remark. 
This ther ^^' ^^^ example, is said to have accommodated 
twenty tiousand spectators. I stood for a long time and 
gazed at ^^ venerable pile. Twelve arches of the outer 
walls are occupied by dirty-looking, impecunious smiths 
and tinke 's» who kept up such a hammering, bellows-blow- 
ing and t;*^^w^"S together of pieces of old iron, as to pro- 
duce soui' ^s quite discordant with those that had been so 
often hea; '^ '^^ ^^^ centuries long gone by from performers 
on the arte '^^^ stage above. Within the theatre is a palace 
which ha; ^^^ several renowned occupants, but none more 
so than t? ^ German ambassador and historian, Niebuhr, 
who had \ ^^^ quarters here during his residence in Rome. 
We pass'--'^ t^''^ celebrated Portico of Octavia, or what 
remain 'S o^ it, from which magnificent columns have been 
taken • to adorn other buildings. It was once adorned with 
spil^endid works of art, and it was here that the celebrated 
' Venus de Medici was found. 

Full enough for one day, I think, as I lay 

My head down on my pillow at night : 
But oh, who can portray the wonders so grey 

That to-morrow shall bring to my sight .'' 

CAPITOLINE HILL. 

"I am in Rome ! Oft as the morning ray 

Visits these eyes, waking at once I cry. 

Whence this excess of joy } What has befallen me ? 

And from within a thrilling voice replies. 

Thou art in Rome !" — Rogers. 

I arose "bright and early," on the second day, and pro- 
ceeded at once to the dining room, where I secured a la 



256 EUROPEAN NOTES, 

carte a magnificent breakfast. All of us have .^ t ?^ j 

excellency of the ancient Ronnan ««'j'/«^, and h ^ , r 

viands as tempting as those that tickled the. P^ ^ ^ 

Macsenas in the good old days of Horace and . l^ P .,. 
■\^ -A A T ^ th smihng 

Mv guide was ready as soon as i came out, w 5 

c ' A • u- u -J <iT u ,u- - '■s new and 

tace and an expression which said, '1 have thii,^ J ^ i- i «- 

old to show you to-day which will astonish o ^ • ^, 

you, and perhaps induce you to add a few exl^. , . ^ , 

our stipulated price of two dollars per day." ^ 

- - . . * ^ numerous 

visit the ancient ruins, we secured one of thei t ^ i f4 

carriages that stand in front of the Minerv.t ° ' 

drove at once to the CapitoHne Hill. Ron ^\. p ■( 

child knows, was built on seven hills, the Capt , /- 'r 
.. , '. c- •!• \j- ■ y r\ ■ ■ 1 id Cailian. 
atine, Aventme, bsquiiine, Vimmal, Cjuinnal ; ^ •. 

The most celebrated of all these is, of course, ;i? ^ . 

T V,- u • ^ *-! i- ^u 114. 1 i.n order to 

line, which is at the same time the smallest. ^ , , 

reach this point, we had to pass through m-,, ^^ '- ^1 
u «. 1 u I J ^ ^ 1, • 1 4. J occasional 

row, but celebrated streets, on which stood cC 

old temple, or other historical building. At 1 ^^ ^, ^ 

riage stood at the foot of the central entrance. , ^ 

itoline Hill has precipitous sides and was formi ^ 1- bv 

ed only from the Forum. Now there are thref , , \ 

fi a- \ ^ c ^ A*-^i c ^ c 'he central 

means of long nights ot steps. At the foot ot i 

steps are two large Egyptian lions, and at the top, , ^^^e 
trian statues of Castor and Pollux, which, it is saic ' , 
adorned the theatre of Pompey. To the left of the si •^' 
near the top, I saw two wolves in a cage, kept there n. 
commemoration of the city's foundation. Getting to the 
top, I stood on the Piazzi del Campadoglio (or Capitol 
Square), which beautiful and artistic place was designed 
by Michael Angelo, and everything wears quite a modern 
appearance. In the centre of the square stands an eques- 
trian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which seemed as perfect 
and in as good a state of preservation as Washington's 
statue at Richmond, It is about 1700 years old, however. 
The present pedestal was designed by Michael Angelo. 
On the balustrade, near the statues of Castor and Pollux, 
are the "Trophies of Marius," from the water tower of 
that name, which dates from the time of Marius. On the 
right is the first of the ancient milestones of the Appian 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 257 

Way. Near the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, to 
the north, stands the palace of the Senators, a compara- 
tively modern building, erected on the very spot where 
the ancient Tabularium stood, built B. C. 78, for the re- 
ception of State papers. On the very spot where 1 stood, 
Romulus is said to have established his asylum. It was 
here that popular assemblies were afterwards for a long 
time held. In the year 133 B. C, on this very spot, at the 
time of the overthrow of Tiberius Gracchus, it is said the 
blood of the citizens flowed for the first time in civil war- 
fare. I followed my guide to the southern height of the 
hill called Monte Caprino (because the goats o'ce took 
possession of it after the decay of Rome), where he show- 
ed rre, back of a palace, the celebrated Tarpeian rock, 
from which the ancient Romans used to throw condemn- 
ed persons ; but it must have been much higher and steep- 
er than it is now, or the purpose of the executioners could 
not have been accomplished. 

While on this hill I visited two most interesting places. 
The first was the church 5. Maria in Aracoeli, built on the 
very spot where the ancient temple of Jupiter stood. 
The temple, it will be remembered, was built by Tarquin- 
ius Superbus, the last of the kings, and dedicated B. C. 
509. This was the most magnificent shrine of ancient 
Rome, several times destroyed and several times restored. 
The present building is very ancient, and contains many 
valuable works of art, but the one thing which causes 
visitors to crowd it is to see the wonderful Bambino, or 
wooden baby, there exhibited by the credulous priests, 
with a set story which has been retailed to thousands. 
Holding the little wooden thing, decked with sparkling 
gems, in his arms, he told us that that baby came from 
Jerusalem. Soon after leaving Palestine the ship was 
wrecked, and the baby floating around loose in the 
Mediterranean was at last washed ashore near Genoa, 
whence it was brought to Rome. The baby is an 
image of the infant Christ, and they believe that it can 
work wonders. Nay, the walls of the church are frescoed 
with scenes of sick people coming to the baby for cure, 
and receiving instant relief. This image (or idol, for that 
17 



258 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

is what it is,) is believed to protect persons in danger, 
relieve them in sickness and minister generally to their 
wants. It is said that it is sometimes taken to the houses 
of such people, and as it is devoutly borne along the 
streets, the people fall down on their knees before it. As 
may be supposed, a grand time they have with this baby 
at Christmas. A magnificent manger is fitted up, and 
this jeweled image is put into it amid the joyous and grate- 
ful shouts of the multitude and the lofty te Dewns of 
trained choirs. At the door as we came out was a large 
number of beggar women, presenting many phases of 
wretchedness, and I thought if some of these jewels or 
rich works of art could be sold and the proceeds applied 
to relieving these poor creatures, it would be a far better 
display of piety. 

The other place to which I referred was the Capitoline 
Museum. Once for all, let me say that I cannot under- 
take to describe the art treasures in the collections at 
Rome. All that 1 can do is to name the world-renowned 
master-pieces that men and women are continually cross- 
ing oceans and continents to see. I stood long in viewing 
the " Dying Gladiator," which represents a mortally 
wounded Gaul sitting on his shield, while the blood pours 
from his heart. Lord Byron in Childe Harold says, in 
allusion to this great work of art : 

" I see before me the Gladiator lie ; 

He leans upon his hand— his manly brow 

Consents to death, but conquers agony, 

And his drooped head sinks gradually low, 

And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow. 

From the red gash fall heavy, one by one. 

Like the first of a thunder shower ; and now 

The arena swims around him —he is gone. 

Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won.'* 

In a room to itself I saw the Capitoline Venus, the work 
of a Greek chisel, the best copy of the Aphrodite by Prax- 
iteles, whose works were the wonder and delight of an- 
tiquity. This statue is the perfection of feminine grace. 
I entered a room called "the room of the doves," from a 
mosaic on the wall of doves on a basin, which was found 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 259 

in Hadrian's villa near the Tiber. In all the shops copies 
of this mosaic are found, and I purchased one of them. 

A week could be spent here to advantage, yea, a month, 
a year; but I am impatient to visit the Forum, and pass 
out. 

Standing on an elevated point of the hill, I had a mag- 
nificent view of the city, and there are but few cities in 
the world that present so beautiful and striking a panora- 
ma. Situated upon lovely hills, with innumerable towers 
pointing heavenward, and old and picturesque ruins ever 
and anon presenting themselves, having a charming river 
flowing through its centre, and blue mountains for a back- 
ground, Rome is beautiful indeed. 

THE FORUM. 

The Forum, called the Forum Roinaniini to distinguish 
it from other forums in Rome, which numbered in ancient 
times nineteen, lies in the hollow between the Capitoline 
and the Palatine Hills, on the very spot where the strug- 
gle took place between Romulus and the Romans on one 
side, and Titus Latins and the Sabines on the other, after 
the rape of the Sabine women. When the two tribes 
were united into a single State, they chose the Forum as- 
the centre, and from that time on it became the scene of 
the most remarkable events in Roman history. Forums- 
generally were only open places surrounded by buildings, 
where justice was administered, general assemblies held,, 
and trading carried on as in our markets. T\\^ Forum- 
Romaniivi, however, was more. It was, so to speak, the 
capitol square, where justice was meted out, elections con- 
vened, victors crowned, public meetings held, where the 
funerals of the nobility took place, and where the match- 
less orators of that time poured forth their eloquence to 
delighted multitudes. Standing on the steps of the Cap- 
itoline Hill, which extends to the Via Sacra, I had a mag- 
nificent panoramic view of the ruins. They cover several 
acres, and the area now seemed to be about 150 yards in 
length by about 100 in width. The ruins lie from twenty 
to forty feet below the surface of the surrounding streets,. 
the rubbish and dust of ages having buried them to that: 



26o EUROPEAN NOTES. 

depth, from which they have been brought to view by 
comparatively recent excavations. These excavations are 
still g;oing on, and I had the pleasure of seeing the men 
at work on them. The whole place looks clean and dis- 
tinct, but a well preserved pavement, the ruins of a few 
temples and some broken columns and disfigured statues, 
are all that remains of the once splendid scene Once it 
contained temples, basilica;, other public edifices, the ros- 
tra, for which Rome was famous, and statues of celebrated 
persons, gods and goddesses, by the greatest masters of 
antiquity. But these trc-asures were all destroyed by the 
vandalism of conquerors, or taken away to be used as ma- 
terial for the mediaeval buildings, for the construction of 
which the world seemed to have such a craze. What is 
called Christianity had much to do with this wholesale 
destruction, for the ancient temples were converted into 
churches, and parts of structures were wrought into the 
walls of new buildings, and afterwards altered so as to 
destroy their ideniity. As many of the edifices of ancient 
Rome were so grand and massive as to be undesirable for 
the taste of the middle ages, the Forum in particular was 
used as a vast marble quarry from which to get material. 
And worse still, in some of the temples of the Forum have 
been found lime kilns, showing that the wretches procured 
their lime by burning this chiselled and priceless marble 
of the ancients. This accounts for the small number of 
works of art that have been recovered by the modern ex- 
humations. 

Descend with me, however, reader, and let us see what 
we can find. Our going will be something like walking 
through an old cemetery and reading inscriptions on the 
monuments. Our first step is full of interest, for we pass 
along the Via Sacra over the same flagstones that Caesar 
and other illustrious Romans have trodden; walk under the 
triumphal arch of Scptiinius Severus, seventy-five feet in 
height and eighty two in breadth, erected about 1700 years 
ago ; enter the Comitiiim, where the popular assemblies 
met and where rises the column of Phocas, which Byron 
styles "the nameless column with a buried base." On the 
right we beheld two ancient reliefs, one containing the fig 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 261 

tree under which the wolf that suckled Romulus reposed. 
At the east end of the Comitiuin stand the ruins of the Bas- 
ilica Julia, where the sittings of the Centiiviviri took place. 
The aisles were paved with white marble, and it is said 
these were used by the ancient Romans in playing a game 
resembling draughts, of which they were very fond. Some 
nine or ten of the ancient pillars still stand. East of this 
is the temple of Castor and Pollux, which was dedicated 
to thetv/in gods out of gratitude for their services to the 
Romans at the battle of Lake Regillus, 484 B. C. Here 
the ancient Senate, in the days when Rome survived, met. 
Three columns of Parian marble, lorty ?ix feet high, still 
stand, and the remains of the mosaic pavement may be 
seen. The building originally h.id eight columns in front 
and thirteen on each side. We turn to the east and be- 
hold the remains of the temple of Julius Caesar, standing 
on the very spot to which he transferred the tribune of the 
orators. It was from this tribune, at the funeral of the 
murdered Caesar, March 19, B. C. 44, that Mark Antony 
delivered the celebrated oration, which so wrought into 
frenzy the populace of Rome. My imagination could easi- 
ly picture the orator as he said (according to Shakespeare's 
version ^ : 

"Friends, Roman'?, countrymen, lend me your ears ; 
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him." 

I could almost see the mantle which he held up, while 
he exclaimed : 

"If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. 
You all do know this mantle ; I remember 
The first time ever Caesar put it on ; 
'Twas on a summer's evening in his tent ; 
That day he overcame the Nervii, 
Look ! in this place, ran Cassius' dagger through; 
See, what a rent the envious Casca made : 
Through this, the well-beloved Brutus stabbed ; 
And as he plucked his cursed steel away, 
Mark how the blood of Cse^ar followed it ; 
As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd 
If Brutus so unkindly knocked, or no." 

On that memorable occasion Caesar's body was buried 
with great ceremony, and a column, with the inscription, 



262 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

^'Parenti Patriae,'" was erected in commemoration of the 
event. Augustus, the nephew and adopted son of Caesar, 
erected this temple in honor of "Divine JuHus," B. C. 29. 
In front of the temple there are remains of a temple paved 
with slabs of stone, which is believed to have been the 
rostra of ancient Rome. My guide pointed out a large 
stone which, he said, was the very one on which Cicero 
stood when he delivered his grand orations. Of course,! 
believed him. While the arch of Septbniiis may be re- 
garded as one end of the Forum, the temple of Faustina 
may be called the other, which has ten beautiful fluted 
marble columns still standing. 

To the left of the arch of Septiinius Sevcrus there is a 
place to which I was conducted, more interesting, if pos- 
sible, than any I had visited. It was the Mamertine pris- 
on (under a small church, as a matter of course, for not 
only every temple from the Pantheon down, bur every 
ancient locality of any importance, has a church over it, 
with pictures, statues of the Madonna, wax candles and 
priests). This old prison was built in the time of the 
kings and was about two stories underground, and seemed 
to be dug out of solid rock in the side of the Capitoline 
Hill. It was a horrible, damp place, and the impression 
made on me was so terrible, away down there with my 
lone Italian guide, that 1 had occasional nightmares three 
weeks after visiting it. The lower chamber, nineteen feet 
long, ten feet wide and six and a half feet high, v/as origi- 
nally accessible only through a hole in the top. And yet 
my guide told me that this was the prison in Vv'hich Paul 
was confined under Nero, and said he was let down through 
that hole. Considering my situation at the time, I did 
not venture to say that his story was doubtful. And yet 
it may be, and 1 think probably was, true. Paul was cer- 
tainly cruelly imprisoned in Rome, and that was the worst 
prison there. Descending into the horrible place, my 
guide showed me a hole in the rock, which he said was 
made by the face of St. Peter, w*lio was also impriso ned 
here, the guard having ruthlessly thrust his head against 
the wall. He showed me also the stone bed on which 
St. Peter slept, and a spring in the floor of the prison 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 263 

which he said was miraculously produced by St. Peter, 
that he might baptize his jailers. I still did not deny a 
single statement that he made, for it was very lonely, close 
and dark down there, yet I secretly questioned whether 
Peter ever was in Rome. Of one thing we may rest as- 
sured, and that is, it was in this old prison that Jugurtha, 
after being starved for about a week, was murdered, and 
likewise his associate conspirators, as well as those of Cat- 
iline ; and the very rocks jutting out of the wall were 
shown, against which the heads of the wretched men were 
crushed. Here, too, Simon, the leader of the Jews at the 
destruction of their city by Titus, was murdered, on the 
day that Titus' triumph was celebrated in Rome with such 
pomp and magnificence. The poor, miserable, starved, 
captive Jews were made to swell the procession to the 
Capitoline Hill, and just as the wreath was put around 
the head of Titus in the temple of Jupiter above, the head 
of Simon was stricken from his body in the old Mamer- 
tine prison beneath. If there are "sermons in stones," 
what preachers these old blocks of granite are ! 

A CLUSTER OF ANCIENT WONDERS. 

The Capitoline Hill is before me, I have just passed 
out of the Forum, but before leaving I will take a view of 
surrounding objects, which all together constitute the 
most interesting collection, historically, on the face of the 
earth. Nay, I stand now on the peculiar birth-place and 
rendezvous of history. Here is the theatre where the 
world's greatest dramas have been enacted. Talk we of 
dramas? Within sight, in the Campus Martins, is the 
place where, " at the base of Pompey's statue, which all 
the time ran blood, great Caesar fell." And now I walk a 
few paces and stand on the ground once moistened with 
the pure blood of the fair Virginia, whose father, rather 
than see her dishonored, plunged a knife into her hea 
A few paces further, and I stand on the spot where t 
great apostle Paul appeared in his last trial, and where 
received his death sentence. Yonder, where stood t 
Milliarum atirean, Galba perished. Now I tread on the 
ancient pavement, where these and a hundred other thri 



264 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

ling tragedies have occurred, that have been dramatized 
and held up in mimic show before a wondering world. In 
these Notes I have sometimes taken my readers across a 
continent in a single section. In this, I propose to go only 
a few hundred yards, and more objects that are worth 
describing will present themselves than it would be pos- 
sible to do justice to in a volume, 

I have already remarked that there were originally 
nineteen forums in Rome. Some very interesting ones 
were close to the Forum Rovianum. One, the forum of 
Augustus, where the wall still stands, with a temple joined 
to it, erected by Augustus, B. C. 2, on account of a vow 
he made during his war with the assassins of Caesar. 
Near this was the forum of Caesar where a few 
scanty ruins remain, and then the most magnificent 
forum of all, that of Trajan, which consisted of many 
splendid edifices, evidenced by their classic remains. This 
forum is thought to have been two hundred and twenty 
yards square. About one hundred and twenty by fifty 
yards have been excavated, bringing to light four rows of 
columns that are models of artistic workmanship. The 
pavement consists of slabs of rare marble. In the centre 
rises the majestic column of Trajan, constructed entirely 
of marble, one hundred and forty-seven feet high and 
eleven feet in diameter. Around the column runs a spiral 
band three feet wide, and five hundred and sixty feet long, 
covered with artistic reliefs from Trajan's wars, comprising 
in addition to animals and machines, 2,500 human figures. 
The Column Vendome at Paris was made in imitation of 
this monument (excepting the material, that being cast 
from cannon taken by Napoleon in his wars). Beneath 
this stately structure Trajan was buried, and on the sum- 
mit stood his statue, which, of course, has been replaced 
by that of St. Peter. I would like for somebody to show 
me in Rome an old temple, an old prison, an old palace, 
an old theatre, or old anything, that has not been convert- 
ed by Popery into so-called churches, or ornamented with 
statues of the apostles, or of the Virgin Mary. But the 
Pope thought he would make a compensation for what he 
did here. According to the legend, "Gregory, while ad- 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 265 

miring the ancient splendor of this forum, saddened by 
the thought that so just and benignant a monarch as its 
founder should be condemned to everlasting punishment, 
succeeded in obtaining the release of Trajan's soul from pur- 
gatory." So saying, I suppose he erected the church of 
St. Nicholas by the column, and robbing it of Trajan's 
statue on the top, elevated St. Peter's in its stead. Thus 
has Catholicism everywhere been engrafted on pagan al- 
tars. 

Leaving this place, I proceeded to the Palatine Hill, 
which is situated on the south side of the Forum Roma- 
liiim. This hill, on which Romulus and Remus were left 
by the receding waves of the Tiber, and on which the 
most ancient city was erected, and historically the most 
wonderful place in the world, is about 1900 yards in 
circumference and about 114 feet above the level 
of the Canipagna. On this hill was the house of 
Romulus, relics of which were preserved till a very late 
period. The red thatched cottage of Romulus stood, it is 
said, amid the splendid palaces of the Emperors. Now, 
only a mound and a few unimportant relics can be seen of 
the wolf-nursed boy, whose name in State and Church has 
been echoed and re-echoed the world over. Part of the 
old wall stands built by Romulus, and it was owing to a 
quarrel over this wall that Romulus slew his brother Re- 
mus. Hortensius, Catiline and the great orator Cicero, 
had their residences on this hill, and so with many other 
distinguished men of the Republican period. This was 
the home of the Gracchi family. Here Cornelia, when she 
was asked to exhibit her jewels, called out her children 
(she had twelve of them) and said, "These are my jewels." 
She was all the time urging her sons, Tiberius and Caius, 
on to ambitious schemes, for she said she wanted to be 
heralded to posterity as the mother of the Gracchi, and 
not as the mother-in-law of Scipio, (Scipio, the younger, 
having married her daughter, Sempronia). Some wag will 
say that she was true to the instincts of the modern moth- 
er-in-law. It is said that when Scipio heard of the death 
of Tiberius he exclaimed, "Served him right." It is not 
stated what he said when the old lady, Cornelia, died. 



266 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

But what gave especial interest to the place was the 
fact that it was the residence of the Czesars, and the an- 
cient seat of the kings of Rome. The principal object of 
my visit was to see the ruins of the great palace of the 
Caesars. Augustus Csesar was born on this hill, and after 
the battle of Actium took up his imperial residence here. 
A nunnery (of course) has been built over the site of his 
palace. The Emperor Tiberius, the house of whose birth 
was discovered only a few years ago, extended the palace 
of Augustus, and Caligula, (little boots), connected it with 
the Forum by a covered bridge extending to the capitol, 
in order to facilitate his intercourse with the Capitoline 
Jupiter, whose image he pretended to be. The wonderful 
substructures, consisting of tunnel after tunnel, arcade 
after arcade, adorned with statues and other works of art, 
which I spent many hours in viewing, belonged to the 
palace of "the Caesars." The world's great wretch, Nero, 
occupied this palace for a while, making it the scene of 
the foulest crimes that ever blackened the page of human 
guilt, crimes so atrocious, so devilish that they will not 
bear repetition here. It was before this wretch, as we 
shall afterwards see, that Paul had to appear. But Nero 
was not satisfied with this palace, and burnt Rome to 
secure a site for a larger one, which "golden house," ex- 
ceeding all bounds, was abandoned by Vespasian, who 
still dwelt on the ancient Palatine. The palace of the 
Caesars was extended by one emperor after another until 
it covered the whole hill, one private house only remain- 
ing, and that was excavated in 1869 and found to have 
been the house of Tiberius Claudius Nero, the father of 
Tiberius. The excavations have brought to light the 
palace of the Flavii. This was the real residence of the 
emperors, and the seat of government when Rome was 
mistress of the world. The substructures here extend for 
hundreds of yards in every direction. The ruins are very 
distinct and satisfactory, particularly the throne room, 
and some distance off, the station of the palace guards, 
where, perhaps, Paul was first confined when brought 
td Rome. 

I spent a whole afternoon in walking through the "pal- 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 267 

ace of the Caesars" and over the Palatine Hill, which now 
looks like a vast paik, or garden, or cemetery, and is a 
great resort for the people of Rome and tourists. The 
hill, while catacombed with tunnels, and with well paved, 
well arched walks of every description, is ornamented 
above with a museum, a nunnery or so, and countless 
pieces of statuary, some of which had graced the halls of 
the emperors. Many of the finest statues seen here and 
in all the great collections have broken limbs. Even the 
Apollo Belvidere had an arm broken ; so with the Venus 
of Milo. I heard a funny story of an American who was 
not posted in fine art. A bonanza king of California or- 
dered a copy of the Venus of Milo, and he wanted an 
exact copy. After a few months it came, but to his hor- 
ror, one arm was gone. He at once sued the railroad com- 
pany for damages in breaking the arm, and strange to say 
the jury rendered a verdict in his favor. 

While on the Palatine I had a fine view of the old Cir- 
cus Maxinius, between the Palatine and Aventine, which 
was instituted by the kings and afterwards extended by 
the Cajsars. In the time of Pliny it seated 260,000 spec- 
tators. Afterwards the seats had to be increased to 385, 
000. Mark Twain says one cannot think that Rome ever 
contained the number of inhabitants it did until he sees 
the Colosseum, but wonder ceases when he reflects that, in 
order to supply the theatre-going people of the city, it 
was necessary to erect a building that seated comfortably 
87,000 persons. The Circus Maxnnus gave me a far bet- 
ter idea of the greatness of ancient Rome, which, to meet 
the demand, supplied 385,000 seats. Leaving the Palatine 
Hill, I proceeded to the arch of Titus, which commemo- 
rates the defeat of the Jews in A. D. 70, and passed by 
the temple of Venus and Rome, built by Hadrian, and 
regarded as one of the most splendid ever erected in Rome. 
The gilded bronze tiles have been removed to St. Peter's 
(of course). Going a little further, I came to an extensive 
base or pedestal of masonry where once stood the gilded 
bronze colossal statue of Nero, as god of the sun, 1 17 feet 
in height. It was executed by order of Nero himself, to 
grace the golden palace which he erected with such ex- 



268 EUROPEAN NoTES. 

travagant splendor, after the burning of Rome. The pal- 
ace was destroyed soon after the wretch died, and the 
statue was removed to this pedestal and gave the name to 
the wonderful building which I entered a fevv steps from 
it — the mighty Colosseum^ which was originally called the 
Amphitheatre Flavian. \ had seen the Colosseum several 
times before I entered it. Like St. Peter's, you can 
scarcely go anywhere in Rome without seeing it. It was 
the largest theatre and most costly building in the whole 
world. Even in ruin it is one of the most imposing struc- 
tures which the eyes of man ever beheld. It has, like the 
pyramids or the sphinx, defied the power of the destroy- 
ing hand of time. It has been a vast quarry for ages from 
which ship-loads of marble and artistic work have been 
taken away to adorn other buildings, and still it stands 
possessing almost all the features of its original grandeur. 
The ancient legend ran, 

"While the Colosseum stands, Rome shall stand ; 
When the Colosseum falls, Rome shall fall; 
And when Rome falls, then — the world." 

Rome fell long before the Colosseum began to crumble* 
It was a strange building, built of blocks of travertine, 
held together by iron clamps, and the many holes seen in 
the building were made by Eastern plunderers in the mid- 
dle ages, who wished to steal away the valuable iron. It 
was built in A. D. 80, is five hundred and seventy-six 
yards in circumference, two hundred and sixty-five yards 
in diameter, with an arena of ninety three by fifty-eight 
yards, and a height of one hundred and fifty six feet» 
Above the arena rise the tiers of seats, and the guide con- 
ducted me to the seats of the emperors, connected by a 
tunnel with the Palatine Hill, so he informed me, for the 
reason that the Caesars were afraid to expose their precious 
persons in coming and going to the shows. From this lo- 
cation he pointed out to me the seats of the ve^.tal virgins, 
whose prerogative alone it was to stop the conflicts when 
blood sufficient had been shed to satisfy their pure natures. 
And 1 suppose that they generally waited to get a nod of 
assent from the Csesars before giving their commandj es- 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 269 

pecially if Nero were present, for a man who would mur- 
der his mother would make quick work of a vestal virgin. 
It was interesting to see the places where the wild beasts 
and the gladiators were brought in. As already remark- 
ed, this building seated comfortably 87,000 people. As 
may be supposed, the Popes, after robbing it of all its fine 
marble to adorn their palaces and churches, particularly 
St. Maik's, at Venice, consecrated the interior to the Pas- 
sion of Christ, owing to the frequency with which mar- 
tyrs' blood had been shed there. Only about one-third of 
the building still remains, and yet, according to the esti- 
mate of a skillful architect, recently made, the material 
there now is worth two million five hundred thousand dol- 
lars. 

The day after visiting the Colosseum I took a walk with 
my guide to the old Cloaca Maxima, founded by the Tar- 
quins for draining the Forum. It has lasted for over 
2,000 years, and seems in a good state of preservation, 
destined to last for several thousand years more. I saw 
the waters as they were emptied from this old aqueduct 
into the Tiber, and of all the smells that had ever reached 
my olfactories, not excepting "the seventy stinks of Co- 
logne," I had never sniffed anything so horribly disgust- 
ing. The filth and sewage of a filthy people, flowing 
through the same brick cloaca for twenty centuries, may 
well be supposed to produce a stench at last. I could not 
stand it long, and then only with my fingers on my nose. 
To reach this place I had 10 go through one of the dirtiest 
and most disgusting parts of Rome, and two or three 
times 1 was on the verge of giving up in despair, but my 
guide almost dragged me along, and when I gazed on the 
ancient wonder, he said, " Don't you feel repaid ?"' I told 
him I did, but would like to return another way. He 
brought m.e by several ancient temples (all of them, 
churches now, of course), and chipped ofT mementoes for 
me, which he said was against the law, and what no other 
guides would dare to do. He doubtless got them from 
some unimportant place, and his remark meant an increase 
of fees at the close of the day's labors. On this walk he 
showed me the veritable house where Beatrice de Cenci 



2/0 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

lived, but I will have something to say of her in another 
article. 

FOOTPRINTS OF PAUL. 

Nothing interested me more in Rome than tracing the 
footprints of the great apostle of the Gentiles. His object 
in coming to Rome, as is well known, was to "appeal to 
Caesar," who at that time was the infamous Nero, who 
had been reigning seven years, was then twenty-three 
years of age, and at the height of his wickedness and 
folly. This miserable wretch, " a blot of blood and greasy" 
on the world's history, married Octavia at sixteen ; aban- 
doned her to live with the Grecian Acte ; abandoned her 
to live with Popp^a, who already had two husbands; 
threw one of Rome's best statesmen. Narcissus, into a 
dungeon to perish; poisoned his rival, Britannicus; mur- 
dered his own mother, Agrippina ; permitted the death of 
his wife, Octavia ; compelled Seneca to take his own life ; 
burnt Rome (playing on his lute the "Destruction of Troy," 
while it was burning,) to form a site for his golden house ; 
kicked Poppaea to death ; and perished by suicide at the 
age of thirty-one. The world has never furnished any one 
man who had such a record of crime ; and yet this is the 
Csesar before whom Paul had to appear. Strange to say, 
he was treated with comparative clemency, and with the 
exception of being chained to a guard, according to an in- 
variable Roman custom, had nothing much to complain 
of while waiting for his trial, which was delayed two years. 
He entered the city by the Appian Way, along which I 
traveled, and was brought to the Praetorian barracks on 
the Palatine Hill, already described. I took a stroll by 
the Circus Maximus, along the very road or street that 
he traversed, and stood on the spot where his tired feet 
rested after that long journey from Puteoli. During the 
two years' delay, he lived in his "hired house," the re- 
mains of which I visited in the Jews' Quarter, It was to 
me a matter of consolation, as I gazed on these timbers 
on which the eyes of Paul had rested, that a Baptist school, 
under the patronage of the Southern Baptist Convention, 
was distant less than a square from this very place. Here, 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME, 2/1 

amid clanking chains, the apostle held forth the Word of 
God successfully, and multitudes were converted, some of 
them being members of Caesar's household. To the weal- 
thy, luxury-loving, time-serving Romans, the spectacle 
was doubtless a poor one, of an old man in fetters preach- 
ing the gospel of the humble and despised Nazarene, but 
to celestial observers he was the only object in Rome worth 
beholding, whose very chains to them wore a lustre that 
eclipsed the diadem of the mightiest Caesar in the palmi- 
est days of the empire. 

The time for his trial came, and he was released and per- 
mitted to go on his missionary tours. He went to Spain 
and to Greece. In the meantime Nero's fire took place, 
and the people complaining at the outrage, that wretch 
charged the incendiarism on the Christians, and he had 
thousands of them put to death. All manner of cruelties 
were perpetrated upon them. They were clothed with 
the skins of animals and devoured by dogs, fed to wild 
beasts in the amphitheatre, covered with tar and bound 
with wood and cords, were made to stand as "lamp posts" 
to illuminate the grounds of Nero, as they slowly burned 
to death, while he drove through the park in his chariot, 
enjoying the spectacle. The cause of Christianity was 
nearly destroyed by this persecution, and it is supposed 
that Paul either came back before the excitement subsid- 
ed to revive the drooping disciples, or that he was arrest- 
ed and brought back. Now, his treatment was much 
worse than before. He was chained and thrown, tradi- 
tion says, into the Mamertine Prison. I entered this old 
prison, which was five hundred years old when Paul was 
thrown into it. It is a horrible place. It pains me to 
think of it now. He was subjected to a foul, mock trial 
in the forum, and was condemned to be decapitated. He 
was taken out by the Ostian road, by what is now the 
Protestant cemetery ; carried under an arch now called 
the Arch of Paul, which still stands, a mournful monu- 
ment of the dreary past ; then on to a point about two 
miles from the city, where a block, an axe and a horrid ex- 
ecutioner, were provided, and the head of the noble apostle 
was stricken off. Over the spot is now erected the 



272 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

"Church of the Three Fountains," which I visited in com- 
pany with Dr. Taylor. The very block of marble is 
shown on which the apostle was decapitated, and there 
are three fountains in the church, which the aforesaid 
Catholic tradition says occurred in this way: When the 
apostle's head was cut off, it bounded three times, and 
wherever it struck the ground a fountain sprang up. I 
dipped some water out of the central fountain, prompted 
by that curiosity common to all travelers. I had doubts, 
of course, about the details, but not as to the locality. 
His body was taken to a place about a mile distant and 
buried, tradition says, on the very spot where the grand 
church (second grandest in the world) of "St. Paul's with- 
out the walls" now stands. I have seen many grand church- 
es and cathedrals, but none that impressed me as being 
so beautiful, so classic, so rich as this, standing away off 
in solemn and unapproachable grandeur. In one of the 
niches is a sarcophagus of polished green marble, in which, 
I was told, rest the remains of of the illustrious apostle, 
and for a few francs, I purchased a small chip 2i?, 2, souvenir 
of it. Some good authorities say that his body was buried 
in the catacombs, but I like those striking, well finished, 
complete, and to multitudes, satisfactory stories that are 
retailed by our Catholic guides. 

At all events the apostle was murdered — the best man 
in the world murdered by the worst — and the whole scene 
now seems, in deed and in truth, consecrated ground. On 
that balmy May afternoon, as I stood there, all nature 
seemed to be in sym.pathy with the tragedy which was 
enacted two thousand years before. The green grass had 
come to deck the mellow soil forever enriched with the 
apostle's blood, the semi-tropical trees were bending low 
their luxuriant and funereal foliage, the birds sang softly, 
as if afraid to disturb the solemn stillness, and the gentle 
wind sweeping over the cainpagna, seemed to murmur 
here a solemn requiem for the illustrious dead. From 
this suburban landscape there seemed to rise an invisible 
monument more lasting than brass, and grander in its 
proportions than long-drawn aisles, fretted vaults, gilded 
tombs, or artistic statuary, on which the eyes of faith 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 2/3 

could read the apostle's ever glorious declaration : "I am 
now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is 
at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished 
my course, I have kept the faith, and henceforth there is 
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, 
the righteous Judge, will give me in that day." 

Side by side with the footprints of Paul were the indis- 
tinct but real traces of the few devoted friends and fellow- 
laborers who companied with him. Luke remained with 
him during his entire bondage, and "tradition" has some- 
thing to tell of him. At the church of 5/. Maggiore, for 
example, I was shown a picture of the Madonna, said to 
have been painted by him. I knew that Luke was an 
evangelist and a physician, but had never heard before 
that he was an artist. Timothy, Paul's beloved son, min- 
istered to him at Rome, as he had done in Asia and else- 
where. Paul needed messengers to carry his epistles to 
the Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians and others, which 
he wrote during his confinement at Rome, and here was 
Tychicus, faithful in the discharge of that duty. The 
apostle mentions others as " fellow prisoners," namely, 
Aristarchus and Epaphras. Two other interesting charac- 
ters were there ; first, Mark, who had been the cause of 
the separation between Paul and Barnabas. Though un- 
worthy at first, he proved faithful afterwards, and remained 
with Paul to the last, for he was sent for by Paul to com 
fort him in his last hour. Demas was also there, at first 
faithful, but afterwards forsaking him " for love of this 
present world," There was one other round whom hangs 
a peculiar interest. It was Onesimus, a fugitive slave from 
Asia, converted under Paul's preaching, and afterwards 
sent back to his master, Philemon. 

There was still another, an illustrious disciple — yea, a 
mighty apostle, of whom there are more "footprints" 
shown in Rome than even of Paul himself, concerning 
whom I may express the doubt as to whether he ever saw 
Rome or not. It may be interesting as showing how 
"traditions" can take hold of a people, to give a few of 
the so called foot-prints of the illustrious Apostle of the 
Circumcision. They show you a rock with the large print 

18 



274 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

of his foot in it. He started from Rome, was met by the 
Saviour, who turned him back, and standing on this nek 
while )ie talked with the Son of God, his foot made this 
impression. They show you the remains of the house of 
Puditia, where Peter was entertained; they show you the 
print made in a rock by the face of Peter; a spring which 
he miraculously produced that he might baptize his jailer ; 
they exhibit the very chains he wore, and have erected a 
magnificent church, St. Pieti'o in Vinculo, to contain them, 
adorned with the finest works of the greatest masters includ- 
ing the celebrated "Horned Moses" of Michael Angelo. 
They show you where he was buried, and they have erect- 
ed the finest church in the world to hold his remains, the 
tomb in the centre of the building excelling in costliness 
and splendor the tomb of Napoleon at Paris. These are 
only some of the relics they show of Peter at Rome. 
VVheiher true or not, these things were necessary ; for who- 
ever else of the founders of Christianity might have visit- 
ed Rome, it was of the first importance that they should 
have among the number the saint who carried the keys. 
Though Peter was not there, and none the less glorious 
that he was not, it is interesting to know that Paul was, 
and that other true and tried disciples were there to com- 
fort and assist him, who, bound and maltreated as he was, 
grandly towered above his persecutors and above the 
whole world, 

"As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, 
Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm, 
While round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 

A VISIT TO THE CATACOMBS. 

1 visited the catacombs in company with the distin- 
guished missionary of the Southern Baptist Convention, 
Rev. Dr. Geo. B. Taylor. I am glad he was with me, for 
as it was, the ordeal was trying enough, and without him 
I am quite sure I should never have gone through it. We 
drove across the Cavipagna from the church ot St. Paul 
Without the Walls, until we struck the Appian Way, and 
then pursuing that ancient road, where the stone blocks 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 275 

are still seen as they existed and were trodden upon two 
thousand years ago, we came at last to the church of St. 
Sebastian, two miles from the city, surrounded by funereal 
cypresses and standing over the entrance to those dark, 
suburban passages which in early times constituted the 
homes, the churches and the graves of the persecuted 
Christians. This church was founded by Constantine at 
the spot where the body of St. Sebastian was found. His 
remains, taken from below, now rest in a marble sarcopha- 
gus, over which there is a fine statue of the saint by Ber- 
nini. The church was entirely vacant when we entered, 
but soon a small lean-looking, sombre-visaged monk ap- 
peared, clothed with a long, black robe, who asked if we 
wished to see the catacombs. Assuring him that we did, 
he provided us each with a small tallow candle, opened a 
door and down the steps we went. These catacombs, it 
is thought, were originally excavated by the Romans in pro- 
curing the rock composed of tufa and sand, called pozzo- 
lana, with which the walls of the city and much of the 
city itself were built. At the time the Christians were so 
fearfully persecuted they took refuge in these cavernous 
abodes, all of which are outside the city limits and on the 
public roads. The Christians extended them until they 
reached three hundred miles around Rome and became 
the sepulchres of six millions of corpses, including the 
rich and the poor, the high and the low, private Christians, 
monks, cardinals and popes. They go down four stories 
deep, and consist of galleries about three feet wide and 
six feet high, with excavations on either side large enough 
to contain a corpse in a horizontal position, while at ir- 
regular intervals there are chapels about the size of some 
of the vaults in our large cemeteries. I confess I was 
somewhat nervous on entering that place, and told the 
monk that I only wanted to go a few yards and view a few 
of the tombs. On he went, he leading the way. Dr. Tay- 
lor next, and I next. It was a melancholy procession. I 
looked on my left and there were the bones of some old 
martyr — a decaying skeleton. Now they began to in- 
crease in number, "Hold on,'' said I, "you are going too 
fast." My voice echoing throughout these chambers 



276 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

made the scene still more desolate. The monk descended 
to another story. I wanted to go back but he would not 
let me. More bones, more vaults, more old inscriptions ! 
We were now a long distance from the entrance. The 
monk descended to another floor. A horrible feeling 
came over me, and I insisted on going back. The monk 
said it was the same distance to keep on as to return. He 
descended to another floor. It seemed to me that the 
earth above was going to cave in. The monk would stop 
occasionally to point out some celebrated martyr, but I 
could hardly see it. The whole substructure seemed to 
swim before me. On and on we went, but just as I was 
about to give up in despair I saw daylight shining down, 
and we were at the mouth again. I felt a sense of relief 
like that I experienced once in getting out of Mammoth 
Cave, after I had suffered from a "hysterical" fit in that, to 
me,. horrible place. We paid our fees, rejoicing that we 
had gone the complete round, re-entered our carriage, 
and passing the tomb of Metella on the Appian Way, were 
enjoying the scenery of that historic region. Soon we 
passed a hole in the wall where stood a noisy Italian, ask- 
ing if we did not wish to visit the catacombs of St. Calix- 
tus. We were really under the impression that we had 
visited this most important and celebrated of all the cata- 
combs. But in truth we had not, and the reaction having 
set in from my fright, and not wishing to do things by 
halves, we concluded to make the rounds. Our guide this 
time was a wicked Italian, who kept up such a talking he 
hardly gave us the opportunity to put in a word. I told 
him plainly that I only wanted to stay in three minutes. 
The tallow candles were provided, and down we started 
in the same order as before. The fellow soon had us four 
stories under ground, lost in, to us, inextricable labyrinths. 
Here bones were spread out in limitless profusion, which, 
if exposed an instant to the air above, would have turned 
to dust. Some of the "narrow cells" contained piles of 
dust in human shapes, and hundreds of yards from the 
spot where we entered, we came across vaults, chapels, 
"mouldering heaps,'' and everything suggestive of death 
and the grave. 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 277 

Our guide occasionally would get far ahead of us, so that 
sometimes we had to go at a "regular trot" to keep up 
with him. He could not understand a word of English, 
but Dr. Taylor spoke to him in Italian and told him to 
stop or we would be lost ; and turning to me, said, " I 
believe this fellow is a rascal." My alarm came on again, 
and I never welcomed daylight so cordially in my life as 
when I saw it streaming down at the other end of our long 
and anxious walk. I am glad I have seen the catacombs, 
but I don't want to see them again, and I would advise 
nervous people who go to Rome to stay away from these 
subterranean, sepulchral aisles and halls. If they will go, 
let them make preparation for the exercise by visiting 
graveyards alone at the hour of midnight. 

And yet these were the abodes where men of whom the 
world was not worthy lived, died and were buried. From 
the time Christianity was introduced into Italy until Con- 
stance proclaimed in Trajan's Forum that the religion of 
Christ was the religion of the world, the Christians of 
Rome had no place of sepulture but these mysterious 
catacombs. -. It was affecting to think that along the very 
aisles that I walked, the torn and bleeding bodies of men 
and women were borne from the awful clutches of wild 
beasts in the Colosseum to this, their last resting place. 

If we may believe Catholic tradition, St. Cecilia, the 
muse of Christian poetry, " severe in youthful beauty," 
expiring in a scalding bath, (the remains of which are still 
visible in her church in the Travertine,) was buried here. 
And so with St. Agnes, the childlike girl, for refusing to 
sacrifice to the pagan gods, slain with the sword ; and St. 
John, during the persecution of Domitian, cast into a boil- 
ing cauldron of oil beside the Latin gate ; and Ignatius, 
torn to pieces by lions ; and Martina, who suffered by the 
lictor's axe, and so on with an endless catalogue. 

To the Christian it is a consoling thought that at the 
last great day these whitened bones will be rehabilitated, 
this scattered dust will be re-collected and reanimated, 
and all who have been sleeping in these countless graves 
will come forth, "they that have done good to the resur- 



2/8 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

rection of life, and they that have done evil to the resur- 
rection of damnation." 

ST. PETER'S. 

This wonderful structure, of which all the world has 
heard, the first object which you behold on approaching 
Rome, which meets your gaze at almost every turn in 
going through the city, the last object which you behold 
as the train bears you away from the scenes which have so 
greatly interested you — this church, which even Gibbon 
styles "the most glorious structure that has ever been 
applied to the use of religion," is situated on the left bank 
of the Tiber, on the very spot, tradition says, where Cin- 
cinnatus was found plowing when summoned to the 
defence of Rome. Later here stood Nero's circus, vi'-here 
the Christians, covered with pitch and set on fire, lighted 
up the park for his nocturnal revelries. Within a stone's 
throw is the spot on the Janiculum, where (speaking ac- 
cording to tradition), St. Peter was crucified, head down- 
ward, choosing that position because he thought himself 
too unworthy to be placed on the fatal wood- in the same 
attitude in which his Lord expired. A basilica was first 
erected by Constantine, which contained the bronze sar- 
cophagus in which rested the remains of Peter, "the first 
bishop of Rome." In this first St. Peter's, Charlemagne 
was crowned and many emperors received the purple. As 
the old basilica, decorated as it was with marble, gold and 
mosaics, began to decay, Nicholas V. concluded to repair 
and enlarge it, but died before his design was completed. 
Fifteen years later work was again begun by Julius IL, 
who wished to add a chapel as his monument. Then the 
work went on, resumed by Leo X., under one architect 
after another, until Michael Angelo took it and carried it 
forward nearly to completion, his greatest triumph being 
the wondrous dome, which is 403 feet high with a diameter 
of 138 feet, compared wath which " Dian's temple is a 
cell." It was his boast that he would "swing the Pantheon 
in the air,'' and he did it in creating this wonderful dome, 
which is only about a foot or two less in diameter than 
the Pantheon. 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 279 

Approaching the church, we enter first the square or, as 
they would call it in London, "the churchyard,'' which is 
three hundred and seventy yards long to the portico and 
two hundred and sixty yards wide, enclosed on either side 
by an imposing colonnade, on the top roofs of which 
stand one hundred and sixty-two marble statues of saints, 
who seem to be airing themselves, and with extended 
hands welcoming comers to the mysteries of St. Peter's. 
These colonnades have three passages or aisles, the central 
one wide enough for two carriages to go abreast, and tliey 
are formed by two hundred and eighty-four grand columns 
and eighty-eight balustrades. In the centre of the square 
stands a grand obelisk, which was brought from Heliopo- 
lis to Rome by Caligula. My hack stopped near the obe- 
lisk, while I walked over the clean, smoothly paved way 
to the portico, Vvdiere I read the foihnving facts : The 
church was commenced by Pope Urban VIII, on Nov. 18, 
1626. It covers an area of 26,163 square yards. 1 he 
length of the interior is six hundred and ninety six feet, 
height of nave one hundred and fifty feet, length of tran- 
sept fourhundred and fifty feet. The portico istwo hun- 
dred and twenty-four feet in length, fourteen and a half 
in width and sixty six feet high. At either end of the 
portico are fine equestrian statues, which I viewed t irough 
a highly polished bronze railing — one of Charlemagne, 
the other of Constantine. On going in I felt almost be- 
wildered by the beauty of the place. Ever)thing, the 
floors, ceiling, furniture, adornments, looked as bright and 
new as if the church had been built within the last year, 
and yet it has been two hundred and fifty years since it 
was comm^enced. It was one hundred and seventy-five 
years in building. During its construction it saw twenty 
Popes come and go, and thirteen world renowned archi- 
tects s-'ccessively toiling and dying. Perhaps one reason 
why it looked so new to me was because I had been view- 
ing so many old, gray ruins about the city. Another was 
the fact that it is kept with the greatest care, no less than 
$40,000 per annum being expended in keeping it in good 
order. After what has been said, the remark is needless 
that St. Peter's is the largest church in the world. It cost 



280 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

first and last one bu'dred million dollars. It is full of 
statues by Michael Angelo (who was at once architect, 
sculptor and painter,) Canova, and other celebrated mas- 
ters — statues of Christ, of the Virgin Mary, of the apos- 
tles, of the Popes, of saints, of martyrs, and several that 
looked vfry much like some of the Venuses that I saw in 
the great galleries. One in recumbent position near the 
Pope's tiirone, was quite a gay looking saint, or sister, T 
thought. The br nze statue of St. Peter has been heard 
of by everybody. He is the great saint of all — the Jupi- 
ter (Jew Peter — think of it !} of these modern objects of 
idolatry. I had heard before I went to Rome that the de- 
vout had kissed St Peter's bronze toe until they had kiss- 
ed it off. The truth is, that they have kissed off half of his 
bronze foot, which extended several inches over the 
pedestal. I noticed, however, that after bowing before 
the statue the devotees would wipe the foot with their 
sleeve and then kiss it, and I advance the opinion, which 
I have not before heard expressed, that it has been the 
action of the fibre of the cloth, and not the soft touches 
of the lips, that has played such havoc with St. Peter's 
foot. Among the interesting objects seen here is St. 
Peter's ejuscopal wooden chair. Ah, that "old arm chair !" 
Reader, doyou think that the poorfisherman of Galilee ever 
sat in it? The most gorgeous object in the whole build- 
ing, unless, perhaps, I except the Pope's throne with the 
bright crown above, is the tomb of St. Peter, containing, as 
Catlfolics say, his mortal remains. I thought it impossi- 
ble that there could be a finer tomb constructed than that 
of Napoleon in the Hotel des Invalides at Paris, but St. 
Peter's is more gorgeous still, composed of the finest mar- 
ble, ornamented with "gold, gold, gold" enough to satisfy 
the inordinate lusts of the Kilmansegg family, while be 
fore the door of the sepulchre is a magnificent kneeling 
statue of one of the Popes; and thisscene of splendor is made 
more splendid by myriad lights shedding their dim relig- 
ious effulgence upon it. While St. Peter's is a forest of 
statues, there are but few oil paintings there, these having 
been removed to the Vatican and supplanted by 
mosaic representations of important scenes in the lives of 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 28 1 

Christ and the apostles, which, however, rival in beauty- 
even the paintings themselves. 

There are many chapels of the size of ordinary churches 
in this country, elegantly finished and gorgeously orna- 
mented, dedicated to the Virgin, the apostles and different 
saints, where worship is daily performed ; and in one of 
these I attended for a few minutes a service, and heard 
magnificent music in which "Italian trills" were not "tame," 
but enrapturing. I was impressed, like all other visitors, 
with the disproportion between the actual size of the 
building and its appearance on first entering. You simply 
cannot take it in at a glance. I visited it several times, 
and it grew upon me until its colossal size was recognized 
and felt. It is indeed the modern Colosseum, not a Colos- 
se7im, however, where saints are murdered and thrown to 
wild beasts, (this took place in the hall of the Inquisition 
near by,) but where the very bones of these martyrs are 
held sacred, and where the very saints live again in the 
speaking marble of the great masters of art. For once I 
felt proud of St. Peter's, proud that earth contains such a 
building, and especially proud that it was erected in the 
name of Christianity. Ii is a place where all the world 
finds a common home. Catholics and Protestants are 
united as in one common brotherhood within these gilded 
walls, and while we may condemn the superstitions of the 
former, who here " bow down to wood and stone,'' we 
unite with them in doing homage to the genius of Michael 
Angelo, Raphael, Bramante and others whose names can 
never perish while this noble edifice remains. 

THE VATICAN. 

After visiting St. Peter's, the next object that claimed 
my attention, topographically as well as in point of inter- 
est, was the Vatican, the palace of the Popes, so called 
because it is located on the Vatican Hill, and the Vatican 
Hill was so called because it was the ancient seat of the 
heathen priests, from Vatcs. It has, therefore, an appro- 
priate name, for the priests are as thick there to day as 
"blackbirds in July.'' The Pope, now that his temporal 
power is gone, says that he is a prisoner in his own palace. 



282 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Well, if he has only the liberty of that one establishment 
he ought to be satisfied, for it is a city within itself, con- 
taining no less than eleven thousand halls, saloons and 
private rooms, besides eleven magnificent courts or squares 
and a garden that rivals that of Versailles. If he is fond 
of the fine arts, as all popes are, he has enough to amuse 
and interest him, for the collections of the Vatican surpass 
any on the face of the earth. The Sistine Chapel, where 
he worships, is the most costly and beautiful temple in 
the world, one hundred and sixty-three feet long and 
forty-five feet wide, and frescoed by Michael Angelo. 
The whole scene is a kind of pictured Ijible. The sides 
contain paneled scenes from the lives of Christ and Mo- 
ses. The ceiling, which is regarded as the greatest work 
of Angelo, I did not admire, simply because the Lord God 
Almiglity is portrayed there in the form of a man, con- 
trary, I think, to the plain command of the decalogue. 
But there is no denying the fact that artistically considered 
the work is perfect. On the altar wall I beheld Michael 
Angelo's celebrated painting of the Last Judgment, sixty- 
four feet in width. Christ is on the throne, while before 
him come the saints, supported by angels but retarded or 
drawn back by devils. Above are angels bearing the 
column on which Christ was scourged, the cross and other 
instruments of suffering. In the centre, by the side of 
Christ, is the Virgin Mary, surrounded by apostles and 
saints; while below the rising dead, is hell, according to 
Dante's conception, with the boatman, Charon, and the 
judge, Minos, whose face is a portrait of Biagio, Master 
of Ceremonies of Pope Paul IIL, who criticised his paint- 
ing on account of the nudity of the figures, so the artist 
erased the head of the devil and put his in its stead. He 
for one became famous or infamous by his animadversions 
on "high art." While this chapel painting is the greatest 
work of Michael Angelo, the stanze or frescoes executed 
in the papal apartments constitute the greatest work of 
Raphael in that style, and art critics are generally unde- 
cided which deserves the highest praise. The majority 
accorded it to Angelo. I spent a long time, with an ex- 
celleiit guide to assist me, in viewing these wonderful de- 



ROAMING THRUOGH ROME. 283 

signs of these two greatest masters of the world, and what 
engaged my attention particularly was the fact that they 
showed such an acquaintance with the Bible. Indeed, 
the Loggia of Raphael (his frescoes in the long portico) is 
called "Raphael's Bible," and most of the pictures to be 
found in our Bibles are engraved in imitation of these very 
designs of Raphael. 

The picture gallery of the Vatican is the most import- 
ant collection in Rome or the world, yet so small that it 
contains only fifty paintings. These, however, are all 
masterpieces. Here I beheld the Jerome of Leonardo 
da Vinci; the Annunciation, Adoration of the Magi, Pre- 
sentation in the Temple, and Faith, Hope and Charity, 
the Madonna of Foligno, and also the Transfiguration, 
his last, and, some think, his greatest work — all by Raph- 
ael. Here, too, were the Dead Christ, by Bellini ; some 
of the best pieces of Fra Angelico ; the Adoration of the 
Shepherds, and a half dozen other pieces by Murillo ; the 
masterpieces of Perugino ; the greatest works of Titian and 
the gems of Correggio. 

While the paintings are not numerous, the sculptures 
are innumerable. The Clementine Museum, divided into 
eleven departments and containing the most celebrated 
antiques, beggars all description. I found myself moving 
about among gods and goddesses, warriors and poets, 
statesmen and emperors, until familiarity bred almost 
contempt for the mighty classic names of antiquity. I 
can only mention some of the most celebrated pieces of 
the Va.ican statuary. Biga, or two horse chariot ; a beard- 
ed Bacchus and an effeminate Bacchus ; a female statue ; 
a bust of Zeus, the most celebrated extant ; Eros of Prax- 
iteles ; Roman man and woman (Niebuhr's favorite group, 
copied on his tomb at Bonn on the Rhine), the famous 
group of the Laocoon, with his two sons, strangled by 
serpents by command of Apollo. It formerly stood in 
the palace of Titus. It was found in 1506 and pronounced 
by Michael Angelo "a marvel of art ;" the Apollo Belvi- 
dere which was found at the ancient Antium. According 
to recent interpretations the god whose left hand has been 
restored, held the aegis (and not a bird, as was formerly 
believed), with which he is supposed to be in the act of 



284 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

striking terror into those who dared to attack his sanctu- 
ary at Delphi. This statue is of Carrara marble and is 
thought to be the finest illustration of physical manhood 
in the world. Here is shown a sarcophagus of Scipio, 
great-grandfather of the illustrious Africanus, who lived 
three hundred years before Christ. These are but a few 
of the ten thousand valuable works to be found in the 
museum of the Vatican. Time and spacf would fail me 
to speak of the E<^yptian antiquities, the ancient inscrip- 
tions, the great library of 300,000 volumes, with its pre- 
cious MSS., to be found in these wonderful collections. 
It would take a life-time to view these as they ought to 
be viewed, so that the time need not drag heavily with 
the Pope during his imprisonment. 

In order to see these wonderful art treasures that are 
daily viewed by hundreds from all parts of the world, per- 
mits are necessary, which are easily enough obtained, and 
/ees are necessary at every turn, or your purpose will not 
be accomplished. The Pope was sick at the time of my 
visit, or I might have seen him through the mediation of 
the American minister, but as it was I had to content my- 
self with looking at his suite of rooms from without. 

Having spoken of the number of the apartments, I sup- 
pose my readers would like to know the dimensions of this 
monster edifice — this gilded prison. It occupies a space 
of 1,151 by 767 feet. It has over two hundred staircases 
and a covered way to the castle of St. Angelo, half a mile 
distant. Everything that heart could wish, everything 
that money could buy, everything that appeals to the sen- 
suous heart of man, everything that inordinate ambition 
could crave, save temporal poiver, is the Pope's, and yet he 
"is a prisoner in his own palace!" Well, for one I do not 
grieve over his confinement ; neither do I envy it, though 
he dwells in the most magnificent and the largest palace 
in the world, for I can but regard all the splendors of the 
Vatican "but as the flowers that crown the victim." 

HERE AND THERE. 

I close my descriptions of Rome with hasty references 
to a variety of things that claimed my attention in the 
Eternal City. 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 285 

I spent several days with our missionary, Rev. Dr. Geo. B. 
Taylor, in his comfortable home, No. 19 Teatro Valle. 
He lives above the chapel, as also does Rev. J. H. Eager, 
his assistant. The whole property occupied by them is 
valued at about $50,000, and belongs to the Southern 
Baptist Convention. I attended the service there and 
heard Count Torre speak. He is one of our evangelists, 
and a learned and elegant man. I also met Seignor Pas- 
chetto, who was sent soon after to take charge of the 
church called Torre-Pelice in the Waldensian Valley. The 
chapel at Rome is a neat, commodious room, frescoed and 
with marble floors, which will seat, I suppose, about five 
hundred persons. We have churches (but not church 
edifices,) at Naples, Venice, Bologna, Bari, Milan and 
some other places, numbering ten in all. We also have a 
mission in the Island of Sardinia. Dr. Taylor has done a 
noble work in Italy, and is loved and respected by hun- 
dreds outside of his own denomination. I enjoyed many 
pleasant rides with him. One of these was to the Pincio, 
the "hill of gardens" of the ancients. It derived its pres- 
ent name from the Pincii family. Here were once the 
famous gardens of Lucullus, in which the notorious Mes- 
salina, wife of Claudius, celebrated her orgies. This place 
is now the fashionable drive for the wealthy Italians, and 
presents a scene not unlike that which may be witnessed 
any fine summer evening in Central Park. Adjoining this 
is the Piazza el Popolo, a square which realizes all our po- 
etic visions of Rome. In the midst of it stands a myste- 
rious obelisk which once adorned the temple of the sun at 
Heliopolis, browned by unnumbered centuries, with flash- 
ing fountains and dark groves around. This spot was for 
a long time the northern gateway of Rome. Two church- 
es here greet the eye of the observer. That of St. Mary 
of the People was built over the spot v/here Nero was 
buried. On the spot which contained the remains of this 
imperial matricide grew in after times a gigantic wal- 
nut tree, whose thick and shady branches became the 
haunt of innumerable crows, which laid waste all that 
part of Rome. The assistance of the Virgin being invok- 
ed, according to the "tradition,'' she appeared to Pope 



286 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Pascal II, and telling him that the crows were demons 
that kept watch over the ashes of Nero, ordered him to 
cut dovn the ominous tree, to burn it and scatter the 
ashes in the air, and then to erect on that spot a church in 
her honor. The command was literally obeyed, and this 
church arose, adorned with works from the hands of Raph- 
ael and Bernini. Attached to the church is a convent of 
the Augustan Friars, which Martin Luther inhabited during 
his stay in Rome, and here he offered up the host for the 
last time. The other church here located is the Santa 
Maria, which occupies the very spot where the famous 
Sylla was buried. 

Leaving the square I ascended again the Pincio, where, 
as remarked, the gardens of Lucullus were situated. He 
having fought the battles of the Republic in Asia, returned 
to lead a life given up to feasts, frivolous amusements and 
debauchery. Plutarch speaks of his " sumptuous villas, 
walks, baths, paintings, statues, and other works of art." 
Plutarch says one day he met Pompey and Cicero, who' 
proposed to dine with him. Lucullus assented and pressed 
them to come. "We will wait on you," said Cicero, "pro- 
vided you give us nothing but what is prepared for your- 
self." They even declared that he should not be permit- 
ted to speak to his servants. After reaching the house 
he was allowed to say to one of his servants, " We shall 
dine in the Hall of the Apollo this evening." Imagine 
their surprise on going to the dining hall in finding the 
most gorgeous of halls, decorated as for a festival, and a 
banquet so rich as to cost $ 10,000. The mystery was 
explained in this way : Each of his halls had its particular 
allowance for provisions, plate, furniture and servants, so 
that the servants, hearing which hall he wished, knew ex- 
actly what to provide. A good idea, some will say, when 
a man has unbounded means. 

The north side of the Pincio is supported by lofty walls 
opposite which are the gardens of the Villa Borghese. 
These villas are small palaces and there are many of them 
in Rome, containing magnificent art collections. As to 
the palaces, Rome seems to be full of these old, dingy, 
sombre-looking edifices, most prominent of which are the 



ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 28/ 

Borghese, Farnese and Barberini, where collections of 
paintings and statuary are daily witnessed by hundreds 
which are almost equal to those seen in the Vatican. I 
spent nearly half a day trying to get into the Barberini 
palace, my object being to see the celebrated painting by 
Guido Reni, of Beatrice de Cenci, Most of my readers 
have seen chromo likenesses of the unfortunate maiden 
hanging in parlors, or decorating the walls of saloons. It 
was something to see the original from which all these 
were taken — the great painting by Guido, taken just be 
fore her execution. The picture is dingy with age, but is 
certainly a master-piece. The history of Beatrice, I take 
it for granted, is familiar to my readers. She belonged to 
a noble family at the close of the i6th century. She had 
the *' fatal gift of beauty,'' or rather she had the misfortune 
to have an incestuous brute of a father, who, leaving his 
palace in Rome and retiring to his secluded castle in the 
Sabine hills, murdered two of his sons and outraged his 
daughter. The wretch was soon after slain. The crime 
was charged upon Beatrice, who was thrown into prison, 
tortured, sentenced and executed. It turned out that she 
was not the murderer, but the old villain was killed by 
some enemy whom he had wronged. Great efforts were 
made to save her, but the Pope refused to do so, and after 
her death confiscated to the church all the Cenci estates, 
amounting to millions, including the aforesaid Villa Bor- 
ghese. O religion, religion, what crimes have not been 
committed in thy name ! 

I visited, on the .banks of the Tiber, the castle of St. 
Angelo, which was originally Hadrian's tomb, and in which 
several emperors were buried. It was afterwards converted 
into a castle, and a dark dungeon is shown there in which 
Beatrice was once incarcerated. An interesting place is 
that old castle, and it is, again, something to say, with 
Father Mahoney : 

"I've heard bells tolling 
Old Adrian's Mole in." 

The way this tomb got to be called vSt. Angelo is not 
without interest. Pope Gregory was heading a procession 
to St. Peter's at the time of the great plague, and when 



288 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

on this bridge, (ornamented with statues of angels, which 
is suggestive,) he beheld an angel in the air waving his 
celestial hands and staying the plague. In commemora- 
tion of the event a statue of an angel was placed on the 
top of the castle and it was called St. " Angelo.'' Cross- 
ing over the bridge ' f St. Angelo, in full view of the re- 
puted spot "where Horace kept the bridge in the brave 
days of old," I came to a church (just find some spot in 
Rome where there is not a church, will you ? there are no 
less than 365 of them, worth in the aggregate -over $200,- 
000,000) — with two marble columns to which St. Peter 
and St. Paul were tied and lashed till the blood streamed 
from their backs. 

St. John the Lateran is one of the oldest and finest 
churches in Rome, adorned with countless and priceless 
works of art. This was the " mother church and head 
of all the churches in the world," and by its side stands 
the Lateran Palace, which was the residence of the Popes 
till they removed to the still more gorgeous Vatican. 
Near this place are the Scala Sancta or sacred steps, taken 
from Pilate's house at Jerusalem, up which our Saviour 
walked when Pilate signed his death warrant. These mar- 
ble steps can only be ascended on the knees, and to all 
who thus go up, (and there are twenty-eight steps,) an in- 
dulgence for all sins is granted for ten years. A young 
Austrian was with me when I visited these steps, and 1 
was amused to see him go up on his knees, though he 
belonged to no particular church, and did it just to say he 
did it. I went up on the side steps, which are generally 
used by the devout on their return. It will be remem- 
bered that these are the steps that Martin Luther began 
to ascend, and when nearly half way up a voice whispered 
in his ear, "The just shall live by faith;" he came back 
and left Rome to begin the grand work of reformation. 

One moining before breakfast, I took a hack and pro- 
ceeded to the church St. Pietro in Vinculo, my object be- 
ing to see the great "Horned Moses" of Michael Angelo, 
conceived and executed on a misinterpretation of a pas.- 
sage of Scripture. Ex. 34:35. The passage reads thus, 
"The children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the 




t M^. ^S Lu-wS^.^J^rs.iS iS^ts 








ROAMING THROUGH ROME. 289 

skin of Moses' face shone/' The Latin Vulgate translates 
it, "the skin of his face was horned," {cormcta,) the word 
horn coming from the same root as shone, and the Romish 
Church, of which Michael Angelo was a member, exclu- 
sively holding to this view. Hence Moses is frequently 
represented in ancient pictures and on coins with two 
horns, like an ox. In the statue he is represented as be- 
longing to the "short horns." It certainly is a magnificent 
looking statue, as my photograph of it will show ; every- 
thing about it indicating strength and majesty. 

One day, in driving along the outskirts of the city, Dr. 
Taylor and I met a magnificent cavalcade. In the mid- 
dle was a carriage and horses with scarlet coverings, and 
several outriders. "Look out,'' said he, "there is the 
Queen. Be ready; she will bow to you, being quick to 
detect foreigners." I straightened up about the time she 
passed and received one of the sweetest bows from the 
most beautiful Queen of all Europe. 

I have kept my readers long enough in Rome, and 
must next conduct them to Naples and the wonders of. 
Pompeii. 

19 



CHAPTER XIV 



SOUTHERN ITALY. 

NAPLES. 

Naples is situated one hundred and eighteen miles from 
Rome, on the soutlieast coast of the bay of the same 
name. My ride from Rome took me again through the 
.heart, or I should say, the remainder of the heart, of this 

■ beautiful and picturesque country. We passed through 
innumerable olive groves, and "fields that promised corn 
.and wine," and caught a glimpse of many attractive small 
itowns and villages with blue mountains ever luring us 

from the distance. At the depots the garrulous Italians 
could be seen loafing and lounging, and in the fields I saw 
vast hordes of them lying flat on their backs on the ground 
sunning themselves, and taking their rest. After travel- 
:ing about six hours, we came in sight of lofty mountains 
which for a few moments obstructed the view of another 
mountain full of interest to all the world, which was soon 
to burst upon my vision. Far above I could already see 
gray banks of clouds which were highly suggestive of the 
coming scene. It was even so. The train rounded a 

■ curve and there stood Vesuvius "smoking his pipe,'' while 
on the right the beautiful city of Naples appeared. The 
impressi<n that the first view made upon me I cannot de- 
scribe. The proverb says, "See Naples and die:" I would 

;rather say, see Naples and live. However dejected a man 
may be, however "aweary of the world," when he views 
this grandest of all landscapes, he feels that, after all, there 
is something to live for. 

Picture to yourself a grand city of five hundred thou- 
sand souls, with houses remarkably similar in their con- 



SOUTHERN ITALY. 29I 

struction, generally white, and many of them imposing in 
appearance, among which are several castles, innumerable 
palaces, and countless towers, all situated on amphi- 
theatre-like slopes of a great declivity extending from a 
high ridge to the water's edge of the loveliest bay on 
earth; with many fairy like ships floating on its bosom, 
with here and there a green isle in the distant waters, and 
with blue mountains swimming before you on the far- 
ther shore, with Mt. Vesuvius on the north sending forth 
great volumes of smoke, occasionally reddened with lurid 
fires, and you can form some idea of what Naples is. I 
had many beautiful views of the bay, and stopped at one 
of the finest of the numerous magnificent hotels that line 
the shore. As I gazed on blue waters, and bluer moun- 
tains ; on sailing ships and green isles ; on gamboling chil- 
dren and gamboling goats, I thought of T. Buchanan 
Read's beautiful description of the scene, called "Drifting,'' 
written on getting back to America, after having revelled in 
the enchantments of Naples and its surroundings, 

"My soul to-day 

Is far away 

Sailing the Vesuvian Bay, 

My winged boat 

A bird afloat 

Swims round the purple peaks remote. 

Round purple peaks 

It sails and seeks 

Blue inlets and their crystal creeks, 

Where high rocks throw 

Through deeps below 

A duplicated golden glow. 

Far, vague and dim 

The mountains swim, 

While on Vesuvius' misty brim 

With outstretched hands 

The grey smoke stands 

O'ei looking the volcanic lands. 

Here Ischia smiles 

O'er liquid miles 

And yonder, bluest of the isles, 



292 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Calm Capri waits. 

Her sapphire gates 

Beguiling to her bright estates. 

I heed not if 

My rippling skiff 

Float swift or slow from cliff to cliff, 

With dreamful eyes 

My spirit lies 

Under the walls of Paradise." 

In going about the streets of Naples I was soon disen- 
chanted, for it is one of the dirtiest, filthiest places in 
the world. Many of the streets are crowded with lazzaroni 
selling fruits, many of the venders being half clothed, 
some stretched at full length on the ground, others "look- 
ing in the heads" of dirty urchins in quest of the "craw- 
lin furlie" which Burns discovered on a lady's bonnet at 
church, and so on. 

But there was one object of interest that I visited, which 
is unsurpassed by anything of the kind in the whole world. 
I allude to the museum and picture gallery. In 1790, 
Ferdinand I., by whom the immense structure was en- 
larged from a cavalry barrack, caused all the antiquities and 
pictures in the royal palaces of Portici and Capodimonte to 
be brought into it in 1820. It has been added to ever since, 
all the treasures of the buried cities of Pompeii and Her- 
culaneum having been brought into it, until now it con- 
tains sixteen collections, ancient frescoes, mural inscrip- 
tions, Egyptian antiquities, sculptures, coins, bronzes, 
paintings, and the library. Time would fail me to tell 
what I saw here ; but most famous were the Farnese Bull, 
an unrivaled group of statuary ; colossal bust of Julius 
Caesar, said to be his best likeness ; the Flora Farnese, one 
of the masterpieces of ancient sculpture; the "Herma- 
phrodite Faun" in Parian marble, found at Pompeii ; the 
Torso of Bacchus, the greatest work in the great hall, 
and attributed to Phidias; a fragment of Psyche found in 
the amphitheatre of Capua, and supposed to be the work 
of Praxiteles, the greatest artist of ancient times ; the Far- 
nese Hercules, by the Greek sculptor Glycon, found in the 
baths of Caracalla at Rome. Reader, these are only a few 



SOUTHERN ITAf.Y. 293 

of the masterpieces to be seen in the Naples museum. 
To this museum have been transferred nearly all the 
wonderful curiosities found at Herculaneum and Pom- 
peii. One apartment looked like a dilapidated "green 
grocery," for it contained loaves of bread, pepper, condi- 
ments of all kinds, preserves and other edibles in use by 
the people on that fearful night eighteen hundred years 
ago, when the cities were destroyed. The apartment of 
small bronzes contains, among a great variety of articles 
suggestive of the domestic life of the inhabitants of Pom- 
peii and Herculaneum, a large candelabrum three feet 
high, a room filled with sacrificial vessels, surgical and mu- 
sical instruments, and the celebrated Heracleian tables 
found in the i8th century, near the site of ancient Hera- 
cleia. Peculiarly interesting are the mosaic pavements 
in this part of the museum. 

The gallery of paintings comprises about 900 works of 
Italian and foreign artists, and the private collection of 
the Prince of Salerno. 

After finishing what I regarded as the whole collection, 
I was asked if I would not go into the "reserved gallery," 
an apartment formerly closed to the public, and ro v optn 
only to gentlemen. Of course wanting to see everything, 
I went in, and found the room (ff )wded with many cul- 
tured English and American tourists who were inspecting 
minutely the horrid frescoes, statues, bath tubs and 
glass cases of ornaments, the most revolting of which were 
taken from the Temple of Venus at Pompeii. Paul's de- 
scription of the wicked heathen in the first chapter of Ro- 
mans was fitly illustrated here ; and not being able to tell 
my readers what I saw, I pass with the remark that 
the world, bad as it is, has greatly improved since the days 
of Pompeii and Herculaneum. 

There are many private palaces in Naples, and nearly 
all contain works of art of great merit. I spoke on a for- 
mer page of visiting the birth-place of Virgil, and in the 
immediate environs of Naples is his tomb, the celebrated 
Roman Columbarium, at the top of the entrance to the 
Grotto Posilippo, a tunnel 2,250 feet long and 21 i-2 feet 
wide. 



294 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

The people of Naples are said to be the happiest in 
the world. " Even the lowest class enjoy every blessing 
that can make the animal happy — a delicious climate, high 
spirits, a facility of satisfying every appetite, and a con- 
science which gives no pain. Here tatters are not misery, 
for the climate requires little covering ; filth is not 
misery to them that are born to it, and a few fingerings of 
macaroni can wind up the rattling machine for the day. 
The people seem in general peaceful and contented, un- 
conscious of want at least; they consume little, and that 
little is cheap. For three cents a day a man has his fill 
of macaroni, and for three cents more very good fish, or 
vegetables fried in oil, at any of the innumerable stands 
of itinerant cooks about the streets. They are very fond 
of carriages. Women at all above the lower ranks do not 
walk; those who cannot afford a carriage are doomed by 
pride to perpetual imprisonment in their own houses. 
Thus living in idle retirement, their minds are exclusively 
bent on the means of procuring a lover, and the tales of 
Boccaccio convey a likeness of their moral habits and 
manners." 

POMPEII. 

Having "done" Naples to my satisfaction, I proceeded 
to the depot to take the train for Pompeii, which is situ- 
ated about fourteen miles from Naples, about a mile from 
the sea, and at the base of Mt. Vesuvius. I had learned 
before that the ticket agents in Italy, and particularly at 
this point, frequently defrauded unwary travelers out of 
their money by giving false change, which, in the hurry of 
the moment, was not apt to be detected by the purchaser. 
I had forgotten this caution and handed the agent a twen- 
ty franc piece, (French money, by the way, is a common 
currency in Italy, a franc and an Italian lire being each 
worth about twenty cents,) and he gave me back three or 
four francs, which I did not observe till I was about to 
board the train. Discovering the theft, I put on a bold 
front, returned to the office and demanded my money, 
which the agent, conscious of his guilt, at once politely re- 
stored. This trick, I have reason to know, is not prac- 
ticed exclusively by the ticket agents in the Old World. 



SOUTHERN ITALY. 295 

The ride from Naples to Pompeii was one of the most 
charming which it is possible to imagine. The train skirts 
all the way the beautiful Ray of Naples, which lies on the 
right, its blue bosom decked with many a noble ship. 
Again I thought of T. Buchanan Read, — 

"O happy ship ! 
To rise and dip, 
With the blue crystal at your lip," 

On the left rose Mt. Vesuvius, on whose lofty summit 

"With outstretched hands, 
The ,^ray smoke stands, 
O'erlooking the volcanic lands." 

Behind us lay on lovely slopes the city of Naples, to 
which distance lent enchantment, as well as to the moun- 
tains, which, "far, vague and dim," swam in the distance. 
That was a scene which I can never forget. 

In about one hour's time, after passing over many a lava 
bed, which resembled the immense fields of stone about 
Stone Mountain, Georgia, the whistle blew and the train 
stopped at Pompeii, or what was Pompeii eighteen hun~ 
dred years ago. The station house was quite a primitive 
looking affair, resembling the smallest depots on any of 
our great lines of travel. From the depot to tlie buried 
city the distance was about a quarter of a m.ile, which I 
walked, stopping at the Hotel Diomed, where tourists 
refresh themselves before traversing streets the most an- 
cient, wonderful and curious which the world affords. I 
soon proceeded through a gate and up a hill to a "turn- 
stile," or structure resembling an American toll gate, 
around which about a dozen men were standing who were 
custodians and guides, this gateway forming the entrance 
to the city. Travelers are charged a fee of two francs 
each (about forty cents) and a guide furnished free, who is 
not allowed to receive anything additional under any cir- 
cumstances. On my return, my guide assured me that 
while he was not permitted to receive any extra compen- 
sation, he was largely interested in the photographs sold 
in a room to which he conducted me, and if I wished to 
pay him anything he could receive it in this way with 



296 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

impunity. He was a good guide and I bought quite a 
nun^ber of fine views. 

Entering the ancient walls, I was conducted along a 
street paved with stone, and so old, even at the time of 
the eruption, that wagons had made deep ruts in the solid 
blocks. Tiiis street led to the museum. Nearly all of the 
curiosities, valuables and celebrated works of art which 
have been exhumed at Pompeii have been removed to the 
great museum at Naples, and I saw them there. But 
here a museum of no mean importance is being fitted up, 
and is receiving constant valuable additions from the new 
exhumations. Men, women, dogs, and even chickens, 
just as they were destroyed on that memorable night, may 
there be seen in plaster of Paris casts. Household articles, 
jewels and works of art are also here shown. From the 
museum we proceeded to the amphitheatre, which I found 
to be in a remarkably well preserved condition. It was 
here that the people were assembled at the lime the great 
eruption of Vesuvius took place, which destr'.iyed Pom- 
peii, a city of thirty thousand, Herculaneum, a town of 
eight thousand, and Stabise, a village of several thousand 
souls. Pompeii was a "celebrated city," so Tacitus says, 
and the ruins indicate that no poor people lived there. 
It was the abode of the wealth3^ and particularly a sum- 
mer res(M-t of the Romans. Cicero, in particular, had a 
villa here, and here lived occasionally the Emperor Claud- 
ius, whose little boy amusing himself by throwing pears 
into the air and catching them in his mouth, had one to 
go far into his throat and was killed. Cicero's house 
still stands, and I will leave the reader to imagine the in- 
terest with which one who had studied his orations and 
read his letters gazed on these memorials of the day when 
he swayed the world with his matchless eloquence. It 
would be impossible to describe in this brief article one- 
tenth of the profoundly interesting objects that I saw in 
visiting every street and entering every house in this won- 
derful city. I can only mention the few^ that interested me 
most. Near the villa of Cicero stands the remains of 
the villa of Arria Diomed, one of the freedmen of Julia 
and mayor of the surburbs. He was a rich citizen who 







FwuLii.iLe/i&J'iiaii 



THE FORUM OF POMPEII. 



SOUTHERN ITALY. 297 

had a bad heart, and when the flood of ashes and lava 
came, he seized his money bags and leaving his wife and 
children to perish, fled with one slave only, but perished 
in front of his garden gate. He had a magnificent house 
where one could see a pretty court surrounded with col- 
umns and small rooms opening on a garden, also baths, 
salons, bed-chambers, a host of small apartments elegant- 
ly frescoed, basins of marble and the cellar, inside of which 
were found a few drops of wine not yet dried up. In 
this place the family took refuge from the storm, for sev- 
enteen skeletons were found here together. The fine 
ashes that suffocated them having become hard retain the 
print of a young girl's bosom. My guide, who did what 
he said no other guide would do, gave me a piece of the 
mosaic pavement over which the wretched people 
walked to their death. Coming inside of the Hercula- 
neum gate, I was interested in viewing an object that had 
furnished me with many a good illustration for speeches 
and sermons. It was the sentry-box in which a Roman 
soldier was stationed on that eventful night, who renrain- 
ed on his post amid the storm of dust, ashes and lava, 
while others were-fleeing around him, his skeleton having 
been found nearly 1800 years afterwards, his bony hands 
still grasping his spear. I entered the box and secured a 
small piece of stone as a relic. Many skeletons were 
found at this gate, all, strange to say, looking toward Ve- 
suvius. 

The house of Pansa, as it is called, was deeply interest- 
ing. It should be called the house of Paratus, I think. An 
election was about to come off, and placards were posted 
throughout the city favoring the different candidates for 
the aedileship. Paratus wishing everybody to know how 
he stood, had this inscription painted on his door post: 
^''Pansam mdilent Paratus rogaf — Paratus demands Pansa 
for sedile. Pansa was a popular candidate, for his name 
was found posted in many other places. Paratus had a 
good house, not so ornate as many, but built for conven- 
ience and comfort, and it is the best preserved of all. Speak- 
ing of the announcements for office leads to the remark, 
that there were many placards and inscriptions on other 



298 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

subjects to be seen all over the city. Some of these gave 
the programme of shows in the amphitheatre ; such and 
such a company of gladiators would fight on a particular 
day. One stated that thirty companies of gladiators 
would ensanguine the arena. Several pointed to hunting 
matches soon to take place, but nothing was said about 
walking matches. These were reserved for modern At- 
lanta and Macon. One notice stated that sprinkling of 
perfumed waters to refresh the people would take place 
on such and such days. Quite a number of posters an- 
nounced apartments to let. Some of the inscriptions 
were witty, some facetious and some slanderous. One 
ran thus, "Oppius, the poster, is a robber, a rogue." Oc- 
casionally there were amorous declarations, "Auger loves 
Arabienus.'' Upon a wall in the street of Mercury an ivy 
leaf forming a heart contained the gentle name of 
"Psyche.'' There were any number of inscriptions corre- 
sponding to our modern "Commit no nuisance," only they 
were couched in plainer terms. On several walls the fig- 
ures of serpents were painted, and they served to prevent 
any impropriety, for the serpent was a sacred symbol I 
have read that a few years ago in Naples the same device 
was resorted to to prevent nuisances, only instead of ser- 
pents, crosses were painted. 

Leaving off the inscriptions, I proceeded to the house 
of the P'aun, which has fine mosaics, a masterpiece in 
bronze and the dancing faun. A great many valuable 
relics were found in this house, in the presence of the son 
of Goethe. The owner of it was said to be a wine mer- 
chant. In the house of the Quaestor were found a large 
number of money chests and many fine paintings. The 
house of the tragic poet had Homeric paintings, celebra- 
ted mosaics, the dog on the door-sill, with the inscription 
'■'■Cave caveiii^ — beware of the dog — (an exact copy of 
which I used to see almost every day in Louisville at the 
doorsill of Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, who had the copy made 
in Naples,) all of which have been removed to the Naples 
museum. The house of Sallust had a fine large group, 
and many valuable paintings and marble sculptures. 
Among other interesting buildings are the house of Mar- 



SOUTHERN ITALY. 299 

cus Lucretius, the Basilica, the temple of Venus, the edi- 
fice of Eumachia, the temple of Jupiter, the forum, the 
senate chamber, the Pantheon, the House of the Hunt, etc. 
The streets of Pompeii are generally narrow, but all 
well paved, laid off at right angles, and now numbered. 
Some of the streets are thirty feet wide, others twenty- 
two feet, and some only twelve feet wide. Some of the 
streets are named as in this country, from the towns to 
which they run. Atlanta has its Marietta, and McDon- 
ough, and Decatur streets, and Pompeii has its Hercula- 
neum, its Stabite and its Nola streets. But it has also its 
street of Abundance, street of Twelve Gods, the street of 
Mercury, the street of Fortune, Modest street, etc. I 
saw, of course, the stores, locked up on that night never 
to be opened by the owners. There were many wine shops, 
several bakeries in which loaves of bread were found 
eighteen hundred years old, which looked rather "stale," 
even for dyspeptics. Everything was of stone — the coun- 
ters, shelving, etc. In the counters were hollowed cavities 
in which grocers and liquor dealers kept their provisions 
and liquors. Behind them were the stone shelves that 
held the stock. And here let me say that every kind of 
business done in Pompeii had to have the sign of it en- 
graved on the door-posts or casings. Thus, a goat in terra 
cotta indicated a milk depot ; a mill turned by an ass 
showed a miller's establishment ; two men bearing grapes 
evidenced the wine merchant. A painter who feared that 
some one would injure his work had this inscription in 
Latin, " May he who injures this picture have the wrath 
of the Pompeian Venus upon him." The blacksmiths 
had hammers, pincers, iron rings, wagon springs, etc., hung 
up. A pottery was indicated by a curious oven. A bar- 
ber shop was found, and near it a chemist's store. The drug 
stores had the sign of a serpent (one of the symbols of 
yEsculapius) eating a pineapple. The discovery of sur- 
gical instruments showed where the doctor lived. But 
time would fail me even to hint at all the things found. 
Imagine a city like Atlanta, built of stone, buried in one 
night, and imagine antiquaries 2,000 years hence exhum- 
ing it and searching among the ruins, and you can form a 



300 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

good idea from what you know they would find, of what 
has been actually found at Pompeii. 

And yet, only about one fourth of the city has been 
exhumed. The eruption occurred in A. D. 79, and thence- 
forward for nearly 17 centuries the city disappeared from 
history. It was so completely buried that its very site 
was lost, and scientists thought it was located several miles 
from where it really is. It was discovered in the follow- 
ing manner: In 1748 several statues and other objects of 
antiquity were exhumed in sinking a well, and public 
attention, already excited by the partial excavation of Her- 
culaneum, was drawn to the subject. One monarch after 
another, at different times and irregularly, has proceeded 
with the work until about one fourth has been brought to 
light of a city that was about two miles in circumference. 
The place looks now a little like a vast cemetery with large 
vaults ranged on rectangular walks or streets. No city of 
the dead could have been more silent on that May after- 
noon, when with my Italian guide I strolled through its 
now deserted streets, and entered its forevermore unten- 
anted halls. 

By the time I got through with my exciting tramp 
through the city, night had come on. Having refreshed 
myself with a hearty meal at the Diomed Hotel, I repaired 
to the depot, where I had to wait about an hour for the 
train to Naples. I took a seat on a bench in full view of 
Mt, Vesuvius, which was all the time sending forth great 
volumes of ashes and smoke, with lurid flames occasion- 
ally bursting out, " painting hell on tlie sky,'' while great 
floods of molten lava would come pouring down the moun- 
tain side, in a long red stream like that which proceeds 
from the red hot furnaces of our large foundries, and rolled 
apparently almost to my very feet. It was a grand spec- 
tacle and one that I can never forget. But even then I 
had to laugh at the recollection of an incident told of the 
Yankee who, taken up to the crater, was asked if he had 
anything like that in America, and who replied, " No, 
but we have a little waterfall over there called Niagara 
that can put that thing out in five minutes."- Turning to 
the left and beholding the sea laving the lava stones as it 



SOUTHERN ITALY. 3OI 

had done so many centuries ago, I fell into a profound 
revery and inwardly exclaimed : 

" Break, break, break. 
On thy cold gray stones, O sea, 
And I would that my tongue could utter 
The thoughts that arise in me." 

The whistle announced the approaching train, and get- 
ting on board and sitting by a window where I could watch 
the fiery exploits of Vesuvius, I journeyed to Naples, 
which I reached at nine o'clock, and stopped for the night 
at one of the grand hotels situated on the lovely bay of 
Naples, as lovely by moonlight and lamplight as it was 
when 

"The day so mild 
Was heaven's own child." 



CHAPTER XV 

THREE ITALIAN CITIES. 

PEERLESS PJSA. 

After all the wonderful things I have described in these 
Notes, my readers will be surprised to find that I have 
styled this article "Peerless Pisa," but it is not a misnonner. 
Pisa itself is a quiet town of 56,000, prettily situated on 
both banks of the Arno, six miles from the sea. The 
country around is flat and comparatively uninteresting. 
It has beautiful quays called the " Lung Arno," and fine 
hotels, the one where I stopped having an enormous pla- 
card hung in the hall, with the legend "The Prince of 
Wales and his suite sojourned in this hotel." It has ele- 
gant stores and shops where the tourist can buy as many 
curiosities as he may be able to take away with him. It 
has a noble University, where no less a person than Galileo 
graduated, and where he was afterwards a professor. It 
has a multitude of fine studios, and marble yards, where 
the finest of work in Carrara marble may be viewed, 
Pisa being located only a short distance from the great 
quarries of Carrara It has art galleries with innumera- 
ble paintings by the great masters, particularly Madonnas 
and Scriptural scenes, (what European city has not ?) 
But all these objects are eclipsed by many other cities in 
that land of history and of art. That which gives Pisa 
a pre-eminence over all other places is its " Piazzi Del 
Duomo," the loveliest square, and containing the finest 
group of buildings in the world; It was to see the.se that 
I "put up'' for the night at the Hotel De Londres, the 
same that "Wales" had patronized on a similar expedi- 
tion. I was not deterred by the bold announcement in 
the hall, for he who had stopped at a hotel in Gotha, 
where Napoleon Bonaparte had stopped, and had slept in 



THREE ITALIAN CITIES. 303 

the same room where the great Captain had " dreamed 
of battle fields," was willing to venture wherever England's 
future king had peacefully reposed. The lovely square to 
which I refer is situated outside of the precincts of the 
town, and hence removed from disturbing influences. The 
buildings are four in number, and world renowned (i,) 
the Cathedral, (2,) the Baptistery, (3,) the Clock Tower, 
(4,) the Campo Santo, or burial ground. The cathedral, 
which is constructed entirely of white marble with black 
and colored ornamentations was erected in 1063. The in- 
terior is adorned with magnificent paintings which I have 
not the space to describe. The building is in the form of 
a Latin cross, 311 feet long* and 106 wide. There are 
twelve altars in this wonderful structure designed by 
Michael Angelo. The Baptistery, likewise constructed of 
white marble, was commenced in the twelfth and finished 
in the fourteenth century. It is a circular building, 100 
feet in diameter and 179 feet high, with artistic mosaic 
pavements, elaborately carved columns, and a pulpit hex- 
agonal in shape, borne by seven columns. This is without 
doubt the finest pulpit in the world, and the carvings on 
it may be ranked among the wonders of architecture, 

I'he Campanile or bell tower, called from its oblique 
position the "Leaning Tower," is well classed among the 
wonders of the world. It is built of marble, 179 feet 
high, has eight stories, with a projecting gallery on the 
outside seven feet wide, with the topmost story overhang- 
ing the base about fifteen feet. It has frequently been a 
question earnestly discussed, whether its oblique position 
was accidental or intentional. I incline to the opinion 
that it was accidental; that the moist earth in that flat 
region near the sea gave way, causing the foundations to 
sink. As the centre of gravity is still ten feet within the 
base, the building is perfectly safe. But after I had 
stood on the top for awhile viewing the scenery around, 
including the Mediterranean Sea, 1 was quite willing to 
come down. I felt safer on the ground. It is a regula- 
tion here that the tower can only be ascended by a party 
containing as many as three persons. But the sexton 
makes two, when the tourist is alone, and one of the nu- 
merous loafers is supplied for the third. 



304 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Galileo availed himself of the oblique position of this 
wonderful and mysterious structure in experimenting on 
the laws of gravitation with which his name is forever 
and gloriously connected. 

The Campo Santo, or burial ground, is a beautiful en- 
closure filled with earth brought from Mount Calvary in 
the Holy Land, that the dead might repose in " sacred 
soil." The Archbishop had fifty-three ship loads con- 
veyed for this purpose. The structure which surrounds 
the holy ground is five hundred and fourteen feet in 
length, one hundred and seventeen feet in width, and 
forty-eight feet in height. Several chapels are connected 
with the cemetery, and many of the most celebrated 
tombs in the world may here be found. I have visited 
many cemeteries, but nothing in the wide range of travel 
equals this costly, unique, and ancient city of the dead. 
I remember distinctly that I had a horrid dream that 
night at my hotel. I had eaten a hearty supper, it is true, 
and that fact may in some measure account for it, but in 
the "dead hours of the night" 1 thought I was way down 
in the earth in a confined and narrow cell, with no door 
or window to it, and I was nearly dead with suffocation ; I 
screamed and sprang to the floor, there to have the bles- 
sed truth flash on my mind that the Catacombs and Mam- 
ertine Prison were hundreds of miles away. 

A NIGHT IN PADUA. 

In going from Pisa to Venice, I had to cross the whole 
of Italy, It was literally going "from sea to sea," Pisa 
being situated near the Mediterranean, and Venice in the 
Adriatic Sea. I passed through many historic sections, 
caught glimpses of numerous cities, towns, and villages, 
and I saw many phases of Italian life. I crossed two histor- 
ic rivers, one the Po, a great, broad river, widening towards 
its mouth, and emptying into the sea very much as the 
noble James empties into the Chesapeake Bay. The other 
was the Rubicon, an insignificant stream, about whose 
identification there is some doubt, and reverenced solely 
because of an incident related of Julius Caesar. In the 
time of the Republic it was the boundary between Cisal- 









^ 







THREE ITALIAN CITIES. 305 

pine Gaul and Italy. As the passage of this stream would 
be marching beyond the boundary of Csesar's province, 
and hence a declaration of war, it is said that Csesar halted 
a moment when he reached its bank, and exclaiming, 
"Jacta est alea," (the die is cast), plunged in, his subse- 
quent history being a history of triumph and of blood. 

When I left Pisa it was my intention to go straight to Ven- 
ice, but in looking over the schedule I found the train 
would reach there about midnight. Remembering my 
horrid dream of the night before, I had a dread of getting 
into any more dangerous places, and the idea of sailing in 
a gondola with an unknown Italian boatman over several 
miles of sea at the hour of midnight was not a pleasant 
thought to me; so 1 looked to see if there was not some 
interesting city where I might stop for the night, and 
reach Venice next day. My decision was soon made, for 
I found that we were to reach Padua, a city of 60,000, 
about supper time. On getting there, I proceeded to the 
hotel "Cross of Gold." Padua certainly has one thing to- 
recommend it, and that is its antiquity. According to- 
the legend, of v/hich Virgil speaks, it was founded by Ant- 
enor after the fall of Troy. In the thirteenth century a> 
skeleton was found enclosed in a marble sarcophagus, 
grasping a sword, and it was pronounced to be that of the- 
Trojan founder. But there were other things of interest', 
in this dingy old town of narrow, dirty, tortuous streets. 
It has a university which in the past has been very cele- 
brated. It was at this university, so it is said and be- 
lieved, that dissection of the human body was first prac- 
ticed for scientific purposes. Galileo was professor in^ 
this university for twenty years, and in the museum they 
show apiece of his spine preserved in alcohol. It has art 
galleries (of course) and many manufacturing establish- 
ments, particularly of silks, leather and cloths. After sup-- 
per, 1 proceeded to a large and elegant cafe, where I learn- 
ed that the chief people of the place assembled every 
night for recreation and refreshment. There, lone stran-. 
ger that I was, I had a pleasant time watching the manceu- 
vres, habits and customs of the people. In one corner of 
the large hall was a place where tobacco and other articles 
20 



306 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

were sold, and I noticed that every now and then a visitor 
would walk up, exclaim "Virginia !" and then walk out 
again. Wondering what all this talk about Virginia 
meant, I slyly approached the proprietor and asked, as 
best I could, what occasioned it ? ''They call for cigars," 
said he, "made out of tobacco which is grown in a country 
called Virginia, somewhere in America." Reader, can 
you believe me? that simple announcement made me feel 
quite at home in that strange place and among those 
strange people. I told him to give me some "Virginias,'' 
and he handed out a few long, slender cigars made of black 
looking tobacco, with straws in the middle. I lighted one 
and took my seat, and began to smoke the quid (pardon 
the paraphrase) of sweet and bitter fancies. And this is 
from Virginia, I said, far away in my own loved country, 
and for aught I know, it came from Amherst county hard 
by Lynchburg ; and if from Amherst it may be from my 
own father's plantation, for he had grown tobacco there. 
And then 1 closed my eyes to everything around me 
.and thought of home. Home f 

"Who has not felt the magic of that name, 
As o'er the soul its sacred memories came, 
When far away upon some distant strand 
-His thoughts reverted to his native land." 

Though a moderate smoker, I have enjoyed many a fine 
'Cigar from tlie "little operas" of the Italian wanderer in 
Louisville, to the fine Partagas of the Fifth Avenue Hotel 
in New York ; but I have never enjoyed anything so much 
as that long, slender, black "Virginia" with which I was 
regaled that night. I left in a meditative mood and pro- 
ceeded to my hotel, where a refreshing night's rest pre- 
pared me for the labors and enjoyments of the next day. 
I had several hours in the morning to devote to sight- 
seeing, and I gave them to a stroll through the city, and 
a visit to the Church of St. Anthony, the patron saint of 
the city, whose relics, including particulaily his tongue, are 
shown in the treasury. This church is one of the grandest 
in Italy, and larger than the celebrated St. Mark's, of 
Venice. 

After strolling for some time through "long drawn aisles 



THREE ITALIAN CITIES. 307 

and fretted vaults," and viewing innumerable paintings 
by the "old masters,'' and noticing innumerable devout 
Catholics as they bowed low to the Virgins in the chapels, 
and crossed themselves after first dipping their fingers in 
holy water, I noticed my watch and found that it was 
about time for me to board the train for the most unique 
and in some respects most beautiful city in the world. 

ENCHANTING VENICE. 

I can never forget the impression made upon me when 
I first beheld this unique and wonderful city. It seemed 
to rise in enchanting grandeur and beauty right from the 
midst of the sea. And indeed, the scene was no illusion, 
for it is situated in the Adriatic Sea about two and a half 
miles from the mainland. It is built on several original 
small islands, and multitudes of made ones, numbering 
one hundred and seventeen in all, in a lagoon or arm of the 
Adriatic Sea, nine miles broad and twenty-five miles long, 
and this sea is but an arm of the Great or Mediterra- 
nean Sea. The city, which is seven miles in circumference, 
contains about 130,000 inhabitants, but formerly contain- 
ed 200,000 and was one of the greatest commercial cities 
in the world, and the capital of the province of that name 
which has ever been one of the most celebrated and in- 
teresting 

It was always a wonder to me why a city should have 
been built in the water in that way, when "terra firma'' af- 
forded in all that region so many magnificent sites. The 
reason was, at time the city was founded, that whole sec- 
tion of country bordering on the Adriatic was infested by 
robbers and desperate characters generally, and the peace- 
fully disposed inhabitants sought refuge by founding their 
city, establishing their homes and business houses where 
they would be the better enabled to repel their disagree- 
able and marauding neighbors. The city has three hun- 
dred and fifty canals that take the place of streets and 
on these canals are continually running no less than five 
thousand gondolas, little boats of swan like shape, which 
by a law issued many years ago are painted jet black. 
Some of these gondolas are very costly and beautiful. In 



308 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

the centre of each is a cove ing resembling a buggy top. 
Seated in this the man of business or pleasure, the young 
man or maiden, old people and little children, move grace- 
fully over the fairy waters in execution of their varied 
purposes. Thanks to modern invention, the cars now run 
to the very gates of the city, (in this case water gates, of 
course), the rails being supported by trestle work similar 
to that which holds (and on one notable occasion did not 
hold) the trains on the Frith of Tay in Scotland. 

On reaching Venice, we were landed in a depot of large 
size and elegant appointments, around whose sides the 
waters were plashing, as they do around a ship lying at 
anchor in the ocean. I stepped out and found the side 
of the grand canal lined with gondolas, with importuning 
boatmen, resembling hackmen at the depots in this coun- 
try. The fare per person to any point in the city was 
only one franc (about twenty cents.) I entered the gon- 
dola, took my seat, and the boatman pushed off from the 
shore. I then for the first time had that delicious feeling 
which Read described when he said : 

" Over the rail 

My hand I trail 

Within the shadow of the sail, 

A joy intense, 

The cooling sense 

Glides down my drowsy indolence." 

The Grand Canal, from lOO to 180 feet wide, is the Broad- 
way of the city, the main thoroughfare, which runs in the 
shape of an inverted S through the whole length of the 
place. Starting at the tail, we had to go a roundabout way 
through many small canals, (back streets and alleys, so to 
speak,) in order to reach the Grand Hotel, which was situ- 
ated on the upper shoulder of the S. It was a delightful 
ride, and on turning each corner the boatman would utter 
a strange, weird shout, which resembled the song-like ex- 
clamations of plantation negroes measuring wheat into 
bags, which I had so often heard in my youth, " Five and 
tally, move the bag.'' This was the alarm sounded to pre- 
vent a collision with some boat that might be rounding the 
corner in an opposite direction. After awhile we were 



THREE ITALIAN CITIES. 309 

brought up to the hotel, and I stepped from the boat 
right into the house. It was a grand hotel indeed, and 
located in the midst of those waters, wore in a most striking 
manner the charm of novelty. It was large, elegant and 
modern in all its appointments. Many Americans were 
there, and having formed their acquaintance I soon felt 
quite at home. 

After dinner I secured a guide (who agreed to take me 
everywhere for ten francs a day), and proceeded on my 
sight-seeing expedition. He first conducted me on foot to 
St. Mark's Square. This last remark needs an explanation. 
While the city is built in the water, by the use of bridges 
and narrow foot-paths, one can walk over a good part of 
it ; still, as may be supposed, walking is the exception, 
and boating the rule. We passed out of the back yard of 
the hotel and along a narrow passage until we entered a 
beautiful street lined on either side with magnificent shops, 
that I found were crowded with tourists, buying all sorts 
of curiosities, but particularly mosaics, to take home with 
them. The prettiest of the stores, however, were the 
glass houses, Venice being noted for its large and unique 
glass factories. 

We soon reached the central point of interest, the "Pi- 
azza of St. Mark," a square paved with marble, one hun- 
dred and ninety-two yards in length, and about seventy- 
five yards in breadth. On three sides it is enclosed by 
magnificent buildings which appear to constitute one 
grand palace. On the east stands the church of St. Mark, 
the patron saint of Venice, whose bones (so they say) re- 
pose in his tomb in the magnificent cathedral near the 
Piazzetta connected with which is the great palace of the 
Doges. When I entered this square it presented a most 
animated scene, for it is indeed the focus of attraction. 
In front of all the houses are awnings and arcades, and be- 
neath these hundreds may be seen eating or drinking, read- 
ing, playing games, or listening to enrapturing music from 
the military band. I witnessed here that scene which all 
travelers crave to witness — the feeding of the pigeons. At 
two o'clock the largest flock of pigeons in the world must 
here be fed. A lady comes out with their food and they 



310 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

crowd around her and on her, until she is one mass of 
fluttering feathers. According to tradition, carrier pigeons 
once saved Venice from destruction. This was the begin- 
ning of the thirteenth century, and since then the descend- 
ants of the birds that bore the important message have 
been carefully revered and nursed. In many cities that 
I visited and in others that I have read of, some species of 
bird or beast was thus honored, nursed and revered in 
commemoration of some special service. Strasburg had 
its storks, Coburg its bears, Rome its wolves, London its 
lions, and all America its eagles. The church of St. Mark 
was the first grand building that I entered, and it is one 
of the most celebrated in the world. It was erected near- 
ly a thousand years ago, and decorated with oriental mag- 
nificence. It is in the form of a Greek cross with an im-' 
mense dome. It is adorned with no less than five hun- 
dred columns of marble, some of these columns having 
been brought from Jerusalem. The mosaics are so 
numerous and beautiful that a description of them would 
be regarded as almost fabulous. They cover 45,790 square 
feet, while the interior is ornamented with the finest pro- 
ductions of the sculptor's art. Over the principal entrance 
are four gilded bronze horses which were once supposed 
to be the v/orkof Lysippus, a Greek master, but are now 
believed to be of Roman workmanship of the time of Ne- 
ro. It is thought that they once adorned the triumphal 
arch of Nero. Constantine caused them to be conveyed 
to Constantinople, but a Doge brought them toVenicein 
1204. Napoleonl. carried them to Paris in 1797, where they 
v/ere placed on the summit of the Arc de Trioinpke, In 
181 5 they were brought back to Venice and placed over 
the portal of St. Mark. They are pretty old horses and 
still show no signs of decay. Time would fail me to de- 
scribe all the wonderful works of art in this church. Oppo- 
site St. Mark's stands the bell tower (or campanile) three 
hundred and twenty-two feet in height. I walked to the 
top of it and yet never ascended a step except at the very 
top. It is ascended by a winding inclined plane of thirty- 
eight bends. Napoleon Bonaparte once ascended this 
tower on a donkey. From the top the view is grand be- 



THREE ITALIAN CITIES. 31I 

yond description and embraces the city, the lagoon, the 
Alps, a good part of the Adriatic sea, Mont Engami, near 
Padua, and the Istrian Mountains. 

I regret that I must pass by the palace of the Doges, 
(or ancient rulers of Venice) with a brief notice, when a 
volume might be written on the subject. It was founded 
in 800, has been destroyed five times and each time rebuilt 
with greater splendor, until it is one of the finest palaces 
in the world. I entered by a flight of steps at the top of 
which the coronation of the doges used to take place. 
The grand reception room was hung with portraits of all 
the doges, by the great masters. After this I passed 
through room after room filled with the grandest works 
of Titian, Paul Veronese, and other illustrious artists. 
The upper floor contains the magnificent apartments in 
which the rulers held their meetings. I entered the Sa- 
loon of the Three Inquisitors of the republic, and remained 
for several moments in the chamber of the celebrated 
"Council of Ten.'' There was the same hole in the wall 
through which the letters of the informers were thrust 
into the hands of the inquisitors, which though anony- 
mously written resulted in the decapitation of many a 
noble citizen. On the east side the palace is connected by 
the lofty and celebrated Bridge of Sighs with a prison. On 
this bridge I paused recalling the words of Byron. 

"I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs 
A palace and a prison on either hand.' 

I stood for some time on this bridge (which is stretch- 
ed across the canal and is very narrow), on the very spot 
where it is said Byron stood when he drank in the inspi- 
ration of his poem. Having crossed I descended to the 
lower dungeons of the prison and saw the cells where the 
wretched prisoners were confined and the very block on 
which their heads were cut off, there being a place scoop- 
ed out for the head to rest in while the fatal blow was 
being struck, and a groove or trench by means of which 
the blood flowed away into the canal beneath. Those 
were terrible times, and that was another dark, cavernous 
place from which I was glad to make my escape. 



312 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

It took me a day to go through the Academy of Beau 
tiful Arts, and it would take me a week to describe it. 
Sufifice it to say that it is another Louvre, or Uffizi, a 
grand collection of the rarest and costliest works of art. 

There were many other interesting things that I wit- 
nessed in Venice, but this article has already grown so 
long that I must close, not, however, without saying that 
I took a ride on a fine day from one end of the Grand 
Canal to the other almost, and leisurely floating, saw many 
splendid churches, m^any grand palaces, (some of which I 
entered to inspect the works of art,) many stately resi- 
dences. Ever)thing was tranquilizing and softening to 
the spirit. There was no neighing of horses, for the 
bronze horses were all that were there, no lowing of cows, 
for cows were not there, no rattling of drays, no discord- 
ant sounds whatever. I just floated along, "a cloud upon 
that liquid sk>'." A house that I was much inter- 
ested in was the very one that Byron and Moore occupied 
during their residence in Venire. 1 got out at the Rialto 
landing, and walked over that historic structure. I then 
visited the Jews' quarter and found myself among the 
mone}' changers, the real Shylocks of to-day; and my guide 
pointed out to me the dingy shop of the ancient Shylock 
who then and there demanded his " pound of flesh.'' It 
was an interesting locality. At night I witnessed a grand 
illumination of the Grand Canal. It was like a display of 
fireworks in some large city in this country. An immense 
steamer floated along, crowded with people and illuminated 
with Chinese lanterns, electric lights and every contrivance 
for such a purpose as it is possible to imagine, while thou- 
sands of people crowded the canal and swam round the 
steamer in their gondolas. It was a gay scene, en- 
livened by the choicest of music, under whose calming 
influence, after I had watched the sport long enough, 1 re- 
paireci to my room, soon fell asleep, and lay dreaming the 
happy hours away. 




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CHAPTER XVL 



THE NETHERLANDS. 

I USE the term Netherlands in the broadest sense, as 
embracing both Belgium and Holland. The expression, 
in a political sense, is now confined to Holland, which is 
called the " Kingdom of the Netherlands," and the word 
simply m.eans lowlands. All that vast section is a dried 
plain, lower than the level of the sea, and protected from 
raging billows by dykes twenty feet high and seventy feet 
broad at the bottom, with room enough on top for a good 
road. These dikes have cost, first and last, $2,500,000,000. 
The district is really but the delta of the three great rivers 
that pass through it — the Rhine, the Meuse, and the 
Scheldt ; and the land was formed by the mud of the 
rivers mixing with the sand from time to time thrown 
up by the ocean. It is an amphibious country, being 
half land and half water. Nearly all the forests have been 
planted by hand. But to show what men can do when 
they try, the whole section has been reduced to garden- 
hke cultivation, and it has been peopled with one of the 
most thrifty, refined and intelligent populations on the 
face of the earth. It is the land of the "Dutch,'' (and those 
who apply this term to the Germans are greatly in error, 
for you had as well call the English French, or Americans 
Irish,) and all of our preconceptions of the Dutch charac- 
ter are at once dissipated when you gaze upon the culti- 
vated, polite, progressive people. The climate in this 
region is very variable, and subject to great extremes of 
heat and cold, the thermometer going up in summer as 
high as 102 above, and down in winter to 23 degrees below 
zero. They have a most outrageous language, a thousand 



314 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

times worse than German ; but the most of them are 
versed in many languages, particular!}^ French, German 
and English. I found more English speaking people than 
in any continental country that I visited. Living just 
across the channel, as it were, and having frequent contact 
with the English, their facility in speaking our language 
was easily accounted for. But I began this article to 
speak of the Belgians first, as " the miniature Paris," was 
the first place in the Netherlands that I visited. 

BRUSSELS. 
I passed this splendid city, as already stated, on our way 
from London to Cologne, but it was not till our return 
trip that I had the time to give it a thorough inspection. 
Reaching the city, which has a population, including the 
suburbs, of 400,000 souls, we proceeded from choice on 
foot along the magnificent central street to the Grand 
Hotel de Brnxclles, (French is the language spoken here, 
though many and particularly the common people speak 
Flemish.) The hotel is one of the largest and finest in 
the world, and gave us a fine opportunity to witness the 
manners, habits and dress of the better class of the peo- 
ple. As we were tired viewing art collections and muse- 
ums, we concluded to "take in" this grand city by going 
from street to street, entering the stores and manufacto- 
ries. Brussels is celebrated all over the world for elegant 
streets, gorgeous buildings, lovely parks, and carpet and 
lace factories. We entered some of the most noted of the 
factories. We had thought that we had seen some fine 
carpets in this country, and particularly on the floors of 
some of the palaces we had visited. But O, the rich, 
royal, enchanting tapestries of Brussels ! 

" Soft and smooth and even spreading 
As if made for angels' treading, 
Every figure had its plaidings, 
Brighter form and softer shadmgs, 
Inwrought figures fading ever, 
Tufted circles touching never. 
Oft illumined — what a riddle — 
By a cross that gemmed the middle." 

But the greatest charm, especially for the ladies of my 



THE NETHERLANDS. 315 

party, was in the lace factories, where hundreds of women 
are all the time at work with nimble fingers, straining 
the eyes and nerves, knitting hand-made lace, which is sold 
at enormous prices and shipped to all parts of the world. 
One of these poor creatures had worked on a single piece 
of lace for three years. It was for the queen. We saw it 
stretched against and covering one half of the wall, and 
it was worth several thousand dollars. I bought a small 
shawl on which the maker had been engaged three weeks. 
Seeing these neat looking but overtasked women plying 
their needles, under heartless masters, I could but think 
of Hood's Song of the Shirt: 

Work, work, wo'-k, 

Till the brain begins to swim ; 

Work, work, work, 

Till the eyes are heavy and dim. 

And I trust that my countrywomen, living in luxury and 
flitting like butterflies through the social world with their 
gay adornments, will ponder the reflections contained in 
the following paraphrase in the kind spirit in which it is 
submitted : 

O ladies — sisters dear, 

O ladies, mothers and wives, 
It is not 'ace you are wearing out. 

But human creatures' lives. 
Stitch, stitch, stitch. 

In poverty and disgrace, 
Knitting at once with a double thread 
A shroud as well as the lace. 

But we turned away from these scenes, to enjoy the 
more enlivening promenades of the grand streets and 
parks that have made Brussels so distinguished. 

I judged from the exhibitions in the stores, that the 
finest hats in the world were made in Brussels, and I con- 
cluded to buy one. I carried it carefully and safely during 
all the balance of my trip through Holland, England, Scot- 
land, Ireland, over the ocean and through the continent 
of America, to have it taken from me at the breakfast 
room at Central, on the airline railroad in South Carolina, 
getting one in return much the worse for wear. What do 
you think of T'hat? 



3l6 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

THE FIELD OF WATERLOO. 

It is astonishing what importance the occurrence of a 
battle gives to a place. It may never have been heard of 
before. It may consist only of a village, a cross-roads, a 
lone house, or a tree ; but after battling hosts have met 
and shed their blood there the place, the name, becomes 
immortal. Thermopylae was an obscure mountain pass, 
Marengo and Austerlitz were small villages, Wagram con- 
tained only a few dilapidated houses. Coming to our 
land, the "Cowpens" were only enclosures for cattle, Ma- 
nassas was a railroad station, Big Bethel a church, and 
"Seven Pines" seven pine trees. 

All the world has heard of Waterloo, and yet Waterloo 
was then, and is now, only a small, insignificant village 
which would never have been heard of fifty miles away 
but for the great, decisive battle fought there June i8th, 
1815, between Napnleon Bonaparte on the one hand as 
commander of the French, and the duke of Wellington 
on the other, commander of the allied English and Ger- 
man forces. But everybody has heard of Waterloo now. 
It has become a household word, and when a man is 
badly defeated in anything, it is to give the strongest 
expression of his overthrow to say that he has "met with 
a Waterloo defeat." 

Of course, I do not propose here to give a history of the 
battle of Waterloo. To do half justice to such a subject 
would require much more space than I can spare. I pur- 
chased a book in the Museum on the battle-field called 
"A Voice from Waterloo," written by a man who was en- 
gaged in the battle, whose descendants keep the museum 
and sold me the book, and yet this "Voice" occupies no 
less that 200 pages in a goodly sized volume. I must 
take it for granted that my readers have read the history 
of Waterloo. A few remarks, however, may be necessary 
by way of refreshing their minds. 

Napoleon, after his disastrous campaign into Russia, 
where he lost more than half of the 500,000 men with 
whom he invaded that country, on getting back to France 
rallied his wearied and sick soldiers and added to them 



THE NETHERLANDS. 317 

recruits until he was able in a short time to invade Ger- 
many again, with a view of meeting and vanquishing the 
combined forces of Europe which were arrayed against 
him. He routed the allies at several important places, 
but at last they met at Leipsic, where the greatest battle 
on record was fought, and Napoleon was defeated. I 
visited and have already described this battle-field, where 
450,000 men were engaged and 50,000 left dead on the 
field. Napoleon's power was now broken, and he after- 
wards signed the terms of capitulation dictated by the 
Powers, by which he was to be sent to Elba to be sover- 
eign of that little province, with an annuity of 6,000,000 
francs, (about $i,ooo,coo.) It would have been well, if he 
had been satisfied with this liberal arrangement. But 
Napoleon wanted no "pent up" Elba for his empire, and 
ail the time he was on the island he was in correspondence 
with the Republicans of France, and at the end of ten 
months he left for the land of his glory again. Regiments 
were ordered to meet and arrest him. At last Marshal 
Ney who had sworn allegiance to the King after the de- 
feat at Leipsic was sent to meet and capture him. 
When Ney left Paris, in the direction of Cannes, where 
Napoleon had landed, he " kissed the king's hand and said 
he would bring Napoleon back in an iron cage." When 
he met Napoleon, however, the old feeling came back. 
Vive V empereur rang through the air, and Ney and thou- 
sands of others marched under the imperial standard. 
Soldiers flocked to Napoleon from all over France ; the 
Empire was re-established, and soon he found himself at 
the head of 200,000 men and eager to strike for his new 
schemes of ambition. Seeing that all Europe was aroused, 
armed and marshaling their countless hosts to put him 
down, and this time to make sure work of it, he marched 
at once to the Belgian frontier, in the hope of destroying 
the allies. Wellington's headquarters were at Brussels, 
and while attending a ball given by Lady Richmond he 
was summoned to the field to meet Napoleon, who was 
already attacking part of the allied army, which, in de- 
tached portions, was scattered for many miles in every 
direction on the Belgian frontier. 



3l8 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Wellington had 92,000 troops, Blucher 90,000, making 
182,000 in all, while Napoleon had there 124,000 of all 
arms. Napoleon having defeated Blucher, ordered Grou- 
chy to prevent his joining Wellington with the remnant 
of his army. Napoleon and Wellington both moved their 
troops then near the village of Waterloo, completing their 
work about the close of June 17th, both, like crouched 
lions, ready to spring the next day. The armies opposing 
each other numbered on either side about 70,000 men, 1 5 ,000 
of whom on each side were cavalry and artillery. This 
would have made the fight about equal, but there was 
Blucher Vi^ith his immense army, who had been ordered by 
Wellington to join him without fail on the i8th, if he 
should be defeated at Ligny. He had been defeated, and 
was now on his way. But it had rained incessantly and 
in torrents from the 17th to the 18th, and the ground was 
so saturated that the movement of troops was almost 
impossible. This caused Napoleon to delay his attack 
till twelve o'clock in the day, which delay lost him the 
battle, for it gave Blucher time to come up, and had it 
not been for this brave old German soldier Wellington 
had never won the glories of Waterloo. Suffice it to say, 
Napoleon was routed, "horse, foot and dragoons," leaving 
26,000 dead on the field against 23,000 slain of the allied 
forces. He was arrested at Rochfort, where he was en- 
deavoring to make his escape to the United States, or 
rather he gave himself up to the captain of a British war 
.ship. He was banished to St. Helena, 

"A lone, barren isle, where the wild, roaring billows 
Assail the stern rock, and the loud tempests rave." 

Here he lived in exile for about six years and died of 
cancer of the stomach. Be that as it may, he was the 
world's greatest military genius, and left behind him "a 
name which before him no mortal had won." 

Of course, I wanted to see that battle-field, which lies 
only ten miles to the south of Brussels. Leaving on the 
early morning train, we proceeded thither and reached the 
depot in about forty minutes. Hacks met us to take us 
to the battle field, which was about a mile off. Before 



THE NETHERLANDS. 319 

reaching the station we came in sight of the "Lion," a 
huge monument that can be seen easily twelve miles distant 
from the railway which leads from London to Cologne. 
This monument is an immense mound or pyramid, built 
in the midst of the field and on the spot where the battle 
raged the thickest, and it is crowned with a great bronze 
lion. 

There are two hotels on the battle-field, and the advo- 
cates of each were about as numerous and importunate as 
the porters of rival hotels in a Georgia country town. We 
concluded to go to the Museum Hotel, with which we 
were well pleased, as the large'museum there contains in- 
numerable relics of the battle, such as dispatches of Na- 
poleon and Wellington, skeletons dug up on the field, old 
guns used on the occasion, old coins taken out of the sol- 
diers' pockets, and bullets by the bushel, "and many other 
things too numerous to mention." We secured an excel- 
lent guide who took us first to the top of the "Lion,'' 
where we had a magnificent view of the field, which we 
visited at our leisure afterwards. 

Wellington's forces occupied a ridge of semicircular 
shape, one and a half miles in length. The French occu- 
pied a ridge opposite, and the two armies were separated 
by a shallow valley. The field of Waterloo may therefore 
be described as an open undulating plain. On the day of 
the battle it was covered with splendid crops of rye, wheat, 
barley, oats, beans, peas, potatoes, tares and clover. At 
the time I saw it (early in October), it was yellow with 
golden harvests, with here and there a few patches of 
plowed ground, the only objects plainly visible being the 
dilapidated chateaus, the monument and hotels, with a 
few farm houses and many forests in the distance. To our 
right was the Hougomont chateau where the hardest fight- 
ing was done ever known, and around which were men 
piled five deep. To the left was La Haie Sainte, where 
the intrepid Ney repulsed the English, and where the 
gallant Ficton was killed and Fonsonby fell mortally 
wounded. Ney had five horses shot under him, and led 
his last attack on foot, waving his sword, his whole form 
being covered with dust and blood. He was indeed the 



320 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

"bravest of the brave.'' I saw the spot by the Luxem- 
bourg gardens in Paris where he was shot ; and as there 
was no necessity for the death of the brave man, it must 
be regarded in the light of a national assassination. 
Right in front was the celebrated spot where Blucher's 
men coming up and compelling the retreat of the French, 
the Imperial Guard was called in, (which was never done 
except in extremest need,) and performed deeds of 
valor such as the world never saw before. After they had 
been driven back, Napoleon, summoning one regiment 
that remained at its post, endeavored with that as a nucleus 
to reform his lines. But all to no purpose. This regi- 
ment, formed into a square, was surrounded and ordered 
to surrender. The answer which came back, attributed to 
Gen. Cambronne, was, " The Guard dies, but never sur- 
renders." They then charged the enemy, and were slain 
almost to a man. 

"When will their glory fade ? 
O, the wild charge they made ; 
All the world wondered." 

"That glorious immolation," says M. Brialmont, "con- 
soles to this day the French people, for the most terrible 
disaster which their arms ever sustained." Napoleon 
threw himself into the square and said he would die with 
them, but Marshal Soult hurried him away. 

The battle of Waterloo may be styled "a tragedy of 
errors." Had it not been for these, Napoleon would have 
won. Two things lost it to the French, ist. Blucher 
coming up when he did. 2d. Grouchy's obstinacy. Had 
Grouchy done as Napoleon told him in holding Blucher 
back, the disaster would never have occurred. M. Thiers 
says: "Nothing can extenuate the fault of Marshal Grou- 
chy, except his former services which were real, and his 
intentions which were loyal and devoted." He says fur- 
ther: "No one can deny that the plan and the execution 
were all that could be expected of a consummate com- 
mander." But Napoleon lost and Wellington won. It 
was with feelings of sadness that I looked on the La Belle 
Alliance, the very house he occupied as headquarters on 



THE NETHERLANDS. 32 I 

the occasion, and gazed upon the memorials of his over- 
throw, 

I was interested in standing on the spot where Welling- 
ton stood when he exclaimed, "O for night, or Blucher," 
and in seeing the "woods of Paris" on the left where the 
dust was seen to rise, indicating the approach of "Marshal 
Forwards," as the Germans called Blucher, 

Wellington made himself a name there, and is now re- 
garded as the savior of Britain and deliverer of Europe. 
I noted his tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral, which is a splen- 
did sarcophagus, while by its side is the ponderous fune- 
ral car in which his body was drawn thither, made out of 
cannon which he captured at the battle of Waterloo. 

After a day spent delightfully on this historic field, and 
after making numerous purchases of bullets, canes, flowers 
and photographs, we repaired to the depot late in the 
afternoon, and taking the train for Brussels reached our 
hotel at nightfall, 

I slept that night on my arms (my habit), but they were 
side arms, quite different from those on which the ensan- 
guined hosts of Waterloo slept on the night of June 18th,. 
181 5. Lying on my luxurious bed, I dreamed of the 
mightiest battle of the world. 

" Yes, Agincourt may be forgot. 
And Cressy be an unknown spot. 
But still in story and in song 
Shall live the walls of Hougomont 
And field of Waterloo." 

ANTWERP, ROTTERDAM AND THE HAGUE. 

The sights which we viewed on the field of Waterloo' 
were so different from anything we had seen in Europe,, 
and at the same time so absorbing, and diverting, that we 
felt a keener relish for the scenes and objects that await- 
ed us in our projected tour through Belgium and Hol- 
land. We went first to Antwerp, situated twenty- 
six miles from Brussels, an old town of 100,000 inhabit- 
ants, and a place of great importance both in regard to 
commerce and art. 

In the middle ages Antwerp contained 200,000 inhabit- 
21 



322 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

ants and. was the commercial centre of Europe. Then 
2500 vessels could be seen in its harbor at one time, now 
about th.it number of sea-going vessels may be seen in its 
waters during the year, while its harbor can protect 1,000 
at a time. It is a favorite point of embarkation for emi- 
grants going to America, and as I walked along the v/harf 
and saw several ships ready to start for New York, I felt 
like boarding one of them and coming straight home. 

We stopped at a magnificent hotel from whose upper 
stories we could get a good view of the city, which is in 
the shape of a bow, the semicircular town representing 
the wood and the river the cord. 

There is a fine old cathedral here, with delightful chimes 
and many works of art. On either side of the altar are 
the masterpieces of Rubens who was a citizen of Ant- 
werp, one being the Ascent and the other the Descent of 
the Cross, copies of which have been so often seen in this 

■ country. They are only shown at twelve o'clock in the 
'day, and an extra fee is charged for viewing them. I saw 

here a head of Christ, said to be the most celebrated in 
^the world. We witnessed a marriage of one of the nobil- 
iity in this cathedral, and it was an interesting sight to us 
foreigners. 

My principal object in stopping at Antwerp was to see 
ithe great picture gallery there, which is one of the finest in 
/^Europe. As Peter Paul Rubens luxuriates so extensively 
an nearly all the continental galleries, it may be well imag- 
ined that he can be seen to the best advantage here at his 

■ own home. Here, as elsewhere, you behold his wives as 
the Madonnas and Venuses of his pictures, and you see 
the same gorgeous coloring which everywhere distinguishes 
.him. 

In his own house which is now a private gallery,! saw 
the original of his celebrated "Judgment of Paris." Ru- 
bens loved his wives (he had two, having lost his first), and 
here we see them again. Even the Grecian Helen must 
belike his wife. And yet I don't admire his taste. His 
iDutch wives look entirely too beefy and flabby for per- 
;fect beauty. 

,Jn the gallery I saw the famous original "Lady Godiva," 



THE NETHERLANDS. 323 

a chaste and beautiful picture viewed by thousands of the 
finest and purest people in the world, but a copy of 
which, shown in an Atlan*n picture store, caused the 
policemen to arrest the ven ;orand subject him to a ridic- 
ulous trial. We passed several days delightfully at Ant- 
werp, pleased with the place and the people, and then pro- 
ceeded to Rotterdam, the second city in importance in 
Holland, with 150,000 inhabitants. It is an amphibious 
town, just as all Holland seems to be an amphibious 
country. The scenery around Rotterdam and throughout 
Holland is one vast plain, intersected by streams of im- 
mense width, and about the only things that attract the 
eye of the stranger are the innumerable wind mills. The 
country is protected from overflow everywhere by dykes. 
I found there the truth of the saying that the "Dutch have 
taken Holland," and they really have taken it from the 
sea to which it rightfully belongs. Rotterdam is built in 
the form of a triangle, with two sides next to the rivers, 
and the third defended by old fortifications. 

It has canals running all through the city, which are" 
used as streets, and in this respect (but in nothing else), 
the city bears some resemblance to Venice. It is a great 
shipping point, about equal commercially to Antwerp. 
Right in front of my hotel were several immense ships 
belonging to one man. The name of each ship was Noah, 
Noah No I, No 2, and soon, and this man was named Noah, 
He reminded me of an incident of a man by the name of 
McLean who claimed that he belonged to a very ancient 
family. His friend said that his genealogy went back to 
David. "O," said McLean, "mine goes back to Noah." 
"That is impossible said the other, for the Bible does not 
say anything about a McLean going into the Ark." 
"Pshaw," was the reply, "did you ever know of a McLean 
that would not have had a private boat of his own." So 
this Rotterdam Noah had six Arks, used however for a 
different purpose than preserving animal life. They were 
being unloaded of immense cargoes of sheep brought 
from Australia to be slaughtered in Rotterdam. I visit- 
ed one art gallery with a view to seeing some of the best 
works of the pure Dutch masters, and it was very pleas- 



324 EUROPEAN NOTES, 

urably enjoyed. The most splendid church in Rotter- 
dam is that dedicated to St. Laurence, and near this is 
the house where the great Erasmus was born, now used 
as a gin shop. This leads to the remark that gin flows in 
Holland like water. The Dutch drink it as the Germans 
do beer, or the English ales. Artemus Ward said of 
Utah, 

" 'Tis the most distressful country that ever yet was seen. 
They imprisoned men and women there for selling of the gin," 

But if such a law should be enacted in Holland, they 
would have to arrest the whole city of Rotterdam at 
once. 

On the great bridge in the heart of the city stands the 
colossal statue of Erasmus, one of the greatest names that 
adorn the annals of Christianity. This old city, with its 
quaint houses with gables towards the streets, resembles 
Charleston, S. C, more than any American city that I 
know of. 

We were much interested in viewing the Dutch peas- 
antry that crowded the streets and markets in their gay 
red costumes, with their dog carts, and other vehicles, in 
which they conveyed their milk, butter and "country 
produce.'' From Rotterdam we made a delightful visit to 
the Hague, the capital and finest city in Holland, with 
80,000 inhabitants. It is situated only two miles from the 
sea, and thirteen and a half from Rotterdam. It is called 
the Hague (or hedge) from the fact that in the thirteenth 
century it was the deer park of the Count of Holland, with 
an immense hedge around it, and it has been ever since call- 
ed the Hague. The streets are wide, regularly laid out and 
beautiful, adorned with magnificent trees, and the houses 
are large and elegant. There are many historical associa- 
tions connected with the Hague. It is here that William 
III. of England was born. In the palace of the Prince of 
Orange is the inner court in which Barneveldt was behead- 
ed. Here is the State prison in which Cornelius DeWitt was 
confined, and from which he and his brother John were 
dragged and torn to pieces by the populace. The royal 
library has the prayer books of Catherine de Medici and 



THE NETHERLANDS. 325 

Catherine of Aragon, the Bible presented to William and 
Mary at their coronation, and so on. The principal attrac- 
tion is the picture gallery, which contains Paul Potter's 
*' Young Bull/' Rembrandt's "Surgeon," Van Dyke's por- 
trait of St. Simon, etc. 

We visited on the outskirts of the city the country palace 
of the king, which has a grand park and many splendid 
paintings. If I had to live anywhere in Holland, 1 should 
certainly select the Hague, which is one of the most 
charming of cities. 

But now our hearts bound with joy as we think of leav- 
ing the continent, with its confusion of tongues, for dear 
old England again. Leaving the Hague, we spent a day 
in Rotterdam on our return, and then journeyed to Flush- 
ing, which we reached at eleven o'clock at night. The 
ship was ready to sail, and we got on board, ate a late 
lunch, and sat for awhile on deck drinking in the invigor- 
ating sea breezes. We then retired to our state room, and 
waked in the morning to find ourselves at Queensland. 
Boarding the cars and enjoying the charms of the king's 
English as we had never done before, we flew rapidly along 
(remember that all trains in England fly), until we reached 
the Royal Hotel, London, perhaps the largest hotel in 
the city. 



CHAPTER XVIL 



FROM LONDON TO EDINBURGH. 

FAMOUS MIDLAND SCENES. 

After spending a few days in my favorite city, London, 
we bade a final adieu to its wonders and delights, to visit 
Scotland, the land made forever illustrious by its patriots 
and "patriot bards." 

As we came by the Northwestern railway from Liver- 
pool to London, we concluded to return by the celebrated 
Midland route, which has more scenes of historic interest 
for the traveler than, perhaps, any railroad in the world. 
We entered the train at St. Pancras Station, which is itself 
a wonder. Just as we think we have the finest hotels in 
America, so we think that we have the finest railway sta- 
tions. But let us undeceive ourselves ; there is no such 
depot in the world as at St. Pancras Station. The span 
of the great shed is 243 feet from wall to wall. The length 
is 700 feet, and the height lOO feet. The length of the 
roof is 690 feet, with a span covering eleven lines of rails, 
and a cab stand of 25 feet, altogether occupying a site of 
nearly ten acres. In the construction of this enormous 
building, 60,000,000 bricks, 80,000 cubic feet of dressed 
stone, and many thousand feet of glass and timber were 
used, and nearly 9,000 tons of iron work were employed. 

At all the termini of these great railroads, as already 
remarked, fine hotels have been erected by the companies, 
and the St. Pancras hotel is one of the largest and finest. 
The objects of interest are so numerous along this line 
that I can barely mention a few of them. Old Pancras 
church itself, is interesting, which, in 1 593, "stood all alone, 
utterly forsaken, old and weather-beaten." It was the 



FROM LONDON TO EDINBURGH. 327 

last church in England where the bell tolled for mass. 
We soon had a distant view of High Gate, where Cole- 
ridge, the poet, spent his latter days, and where Lord Ba- 
con died in 1626. It took its name from the high gate on 
the hill, where tolls were received, and, it is said, that in 
ante railroad times, eighty stage coaches passed there daily. 
The neighborhood was once remarkable for the exploits 
of Dick Turpin and other highwaymen, and it was over 
this toll-gate that "Bonny Black Bess,'' Turpin's fine mare, 
leaped when he was hotly pursued by men seeking his 
arrest. He rode that day, it is said, about two hundred 
miles. We had a view also of Hampstead, where James 
n. had a hunting-seat. 1 his neighborhood was also one 
of the haunts of Dick Turpin. We passed a church built 
on a street, cut as a road by the Romans, 2,000 \'ears ago, 
and then again had a view of "Harrow on the Hill,'' with 
the grammar school peering over the trees, which Lord 
Byron once attended. Re-visiting this spot, in after years, 
he wrote : 

"Again I revisit the hills where we sported, 
The stream where we swam, and the fields where we wrought, 
The school where, loud warned by the bell, we resorted, 
To pore o'er the precepts by pedagogues taught." 

Next, came a beautiful view of St. Albans, named for 
the first English martyr burned for embracing Christianity. 
Near the Abbey stands the church tower where, in Nor- 
man times, 

"The curfew tolled the knell of parting day." 

We then passed an historic battle-field, where one of 
the greatest battles was fought between the White and 
Red Roses. Next, came an old castle of the time of 
Henry VL, and to this. Queen Catharine of Aragon, re- 
tired, while her divorce suit was pending. We next came 
to a spot dear to all Christians the world over, and par- 
ticularly to Baptists, for it was the village of Elstow, 
where John Bunyan was born, one of the greatest geniuses 
the world has ever known, whose Pilgrim's Progress stands 
in, allegorical literature, single and unapproachable. The 
tower of the church can be plainly seen from the railway, 



328 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

where he was for so many years, a bell-ringer. Near this 
spot, stands Darrow Farm, celebrated from the fact that 
in the reign of Charles II. it was one of the places where 
Dissenters held their "unlawful conventicles," for which 
offense John Bunyan was sentenced to a long term of 
imprisonment. Bunyan took refuge from his pursuers in 
one of the lofts of Darrow Farm. The roof of the house 
and gable end of the loft may be seen from the cars. We 
now reached Bedford, where Bunyan preached the pure 
gospel of Christ in the midst of "a wicked and perverse 
generation." Here stands Bedford jail, in which he was 
imprisoned twelve years, and in which he wrote his unri- 
valed dreams. 

A statue of John Bunyan, presented by the Duke of 
Bedford, stands upon the green. One who gazes upon 
that interesting scene cannot but form resolutions to live 
for the glory of God and the good of his race. When 
Bunyan was silenced and imprisoned, he was offered 
liberty on condition that he would abstain from preach- 
ing his "heretical" doctrines, but he replied that "he would 
stay in Bedford jail till moss grew on his eyebrows," be- 
fore he would prove so faithless to his Master. Now, 
Baptists, Methodists, Independents, Moravians and other 
denominations have churches there. It is ever so, "The 
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." 

We soon came to another town of equal interest to the 
Baptists. It was Kettering. There still stands the house, 
with its white front in the northern part of the town 
plainly visible from the railroad, where, on October 2, 
1792, missions to the heathen w^ere set on foot by Rev. 
William Carey, Rev. Andrew Fuller and a few other min- 
isters and members of the Baptist denomination. A col- 
lection was taken up on that occasion, the first effort of 
the sort in many centuries, which amounted to $65,500 
From that small beginning what mighty results have fol- 
lowed. 

It is remarkable that there, in a circuit of a few miles, 
are spots where two of the great distinctive principles of 
Baptists were asserted, Bunyan clamoring for soul liberty,* 
and Carey pleading for foreign missions. On the 31st of 



FROM LONDON TO EDINBURGH. 329 

May and ist of June, 1862, a jubilee was held to celebrate 
the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Missions. 
To commemorate the event a medal was struck, the in- 
scription on which was as follows : "Baptist Mission found- 
ed Oct. 2, 1792, commenced in the East Indies 1793, 
West Indies 1813, Western Africa 1840; Stations 157; 
Missionaries 71; Teachers and Native Preachers 127; 
Members, upwards of 30,000; Scholars, about 18,000; 
Scriptures translated into 40 Languages and Dialects; 
Copies issued in the year 1861, 85,000." These results 
are all attributed to the organization of that little society 
in the back parlor of that white house on which I then 
gazed. 

We next came to Rushton, where the conspirators met 
in the reign of James I. to concoct the "Gunpowder plot." 
We think it terrible in the Irish to be annoying the Eng- 
lish with dynamite, and so it is. But it is not the first 
time England has been disturbed by seditious citizens. 
The memory of "Guy Fawkes" is about as horrible as that 
of the infernal machines of 1881, or of the Phoenix Park 
murders of 1882. 

We soon came to Leicester, another interesting town. 
It was here, among other incidents, that Cardinal Wolsey 
died in 1530, exclaiming with almost his latest breath, 
"Had I but served my God as diligently as I have served 
my king, he would not have left me desolate in my old 
age." 

We now left the main track of the Midland line and 
took the branch road by way of Manchester to Liver- 
pool. Our object in going by Liverpool was to look after 
our baggage, which we had shipped from Germany by ex- 
press. We wished to make some other arrangements, 
preparatory to sailing on our return from Scotland. Night 
came on, and the darkness shut out many interesting ob- 
jects from our view. The train stopped fifteen minutes 
at Manchester, a great manufacturing city of 400,000 
souls, and I can never forget the appearance of the city 
lighted by the blasts of its innumerable factories. Hun- 
dreds of immense buildings seemed to have roofs of flame. 
To this place much of the cotton of the world comes. It 



330 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

is made up into goods of various descriptions and shipped 
to all parts of the habitable globe. It was somewhat late 
before we reached Liverpool, and we look rooms at the 
Adeiphi Hotel — very good, but enormously expensive, 
crowded as it always is with Americans, whose extrava- 
gant habits have elevated prices all over Europe. 

THE WHARTON FAMILY OF WESTMORELAND. 

After remaining in Liverpool a day or two, we departed 
for Edinburgh. My readers will pardon me for passing 
over many interesting and "noteworthy objects," until the 
train reached the weird, rocky, mountainous, picturesque 
region of Westmoreland county, the ancestral home of 
the Wharton family, from which my branch of the Whar- 
ton nam.e claims to be descended. 

It has always been a tradition with us that our ances- 
tors belonged to the English nobility. But I wish it to 
be distinctly understood that I attach no great importance 
to this circumstance. I scorn the idea of being "a pen- 
sioner on the dead.'' There are many comparatively hum- 
ble wearers of our name who are very dear to me. How- 
ever, for the sake of "'the truth of history,'' and of giving 
some personal interest to these Notes, I state that recent 
researches have shown that my father, Malcolm H. Whar- 
ton, deceased, was the nearest of kin of all then living to 
the royalist, George Wharton, who, deprived of his estates 
during the civil wars, emigrated from Westmoreland, 
England, to Westmoreland, Virginia. Bishop Meade, in 
his " Old Churches and Families of Virginia," refers to 
him when he says, of ''Overwharton Parish," Stafford, 
county, created before the revolution of 1688, "This name, 
like that of Strat:on, is that of an English town, in the 
first place, and secondly, of an individual. It may have 
been called in honor of George Wharton, a native of 
Westmoreland county, England, who lost all during the 
civil wars," etc. But he did not lose all, or recuperated 
his fortune rapidly, for I have heard my father say that 
the royalist's son George, my great grandfather, owned the 
land on which the city of Fredericksb-^irg was built, and 
that he always drove a "coach and four." 



FROM LONDON TO EDINBURGH. 33 1 

The line of descent is as follows: George, the royalist, 
begat George, Thomas, Jesse, John and Joseph (or Sam- 
uel,) George begat John, Joseph, William, George, Zachary 
and Samuel — the last being my grandfather. The royal- 
ist, George Wharton, was a near relative of the celebrated 
Lord Thomas Wharton, of Kirkby Stephen, Westmore- 
land county, England, who was first a baron, then an 
earl, and then a marquis ; who was Governor of Carlisle, 
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and the most successful and 
influential politician of his time, though an unprincipled 
man. His name appears often in Macaulay's History of 
England, and the learned historian devotes nearly a whole 
chapter to describing his extraordinary character, which 
description has been reproduced in his Essays. He was 
the author of " Lillibullero," the famous ballad with which 
he boasted that he "sung a king out of three kingdoms." 
This Thomas Lord Wharton was the father of the still 
more celebrated Philip, Duke of Wharton, who receiving 
at one time $80,000 per annum, and at another being on 
such good terms with the widow of James H., that she 
pawned her jewels that she might loan him $10,000, died 
in poverty and exi^e. He was a brilliant scholar and au- 
thor ; left several celebrated works, and was the man of 
whom Pope speaks in his Moral Essays, in the following 
strain : 

"Wharton, the scorn and wonder of our days, 
Whose ruling passion was the lust of praise, 
Born with whate'er could win it from the wise, 
Women and fools must like him or he dies ; 
Though wondering senates hung on all he spoke, 
The club must hail him master of the joke." 

It is a mistake of some of the Whartons to suppose that 
they descended directly from Thomas Lord Wharton, for 
Philip, Duke of Wharton, was his only son, and he died 
Vv'ithout issue. Before Thomas there were four Baron 
Whartons, and it was from one of these, perhaps from 
Thomas' father (as there were several brothers) that we 
get our descent. The following extracts from a letter 
which I have received from Rev. L. B. Wharton, an emi- 
nent Episcopal clergyman of Virginia, who has devoted 



332 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

much care and research in tracing the genealogy of the 
Whartons, bear directly on the subject. Speaking of this 
branch of the family he says, "There are no traditions 
here of noble descent, though my father (Rev. John A. 
Wharton, of Liberty,) recollects hearing Dr. William Whar- 
ton speak of their descent from Thomas Lord Wharton 
as a fact. None of us can be descended from the famous 
'Tom,' but he had brothers, I am told." Of my own branch 
of the family he writes, " What I know of your branch 
comes from General Wharton, and would not be new to 
you. George, the royalist, begat George, Thomas, Jesse, 
John, and Joseph (or Samuel), George begat John, Joseph, 
William, George, Zachary, and Samuel your grandfather.'' 

The same writer, in a letter to R. S. Wharton, of Cave 
Springs, Ga., says: "I wrote to General Wharton's uncle 
Malcolm, [my father] but he died a few days before he could 
answer and give me any information. He was about 
eighty years old [really seventy-six ; he died November 
II, 1881 during my residence in Europe], and standing one 
degree nearer the Royalist that came over." 

The coat of arms of all the Westmoreland Whartons 
was the same, and consisted of a "bull's head gorged with 
a ducal crown," with the legend, ^^generosus nascitur 
noil Jity Philip, Duke of Wharton, had another 
crest of his own devising, worn in addition to the one 
named, "a Moor crowned, kneeling and stabbing himself 
with a sword." Imagine my anxiety to visit the ancestral 
residence of the Whartons. On approaching the town of 
Kirkby Stephen my railway guide book had this to say : 

"KiRKBY Stephen. — A market-town situated in amoun- 
tainous part of Westmoreland, deriving its name from the 
saint to whom the church is dedicated. It is seated on 
the western bank of the river Eden, opposite the hills which 
separate Yorkshire from Westmoreland, and consists prin- 
cipally of one street. 

"The church, which is of early but unknown foundation, 
has a lofty steeple tower. In the aisles are sepulchral 
chapels containing curious munuments of the families of 
Wharton, and of Musgrave, of Hartley Castle. One mon- 
ument in the Wharton aisle, is that of Thomas first Lord 



FROM LONDON TO EDINBURGH. 333 

Wharton, and his two wives. He was Governor of the 
town and castle of Carlisle, and signalized himself in the 
wars of Scotland (temp. Henry VHI.) as also at the battle 
of Pinkey. 

"The Grammar School here was founded by Thomas 
Lord Wharton. There are three other schools and two 
Dissenting Chapels. 

^'Wharton Hall, the ancient residence of the family of 
Wharton, now the property of the Earl of Lonsdale, is 
on the bank of the Eden, near here. 

"It is a very large edifice. In the kitchen are two vast 
fireplaces, and in the hall is one twelve feet wide, testi- 
monies of the former hospitalities of the place. It is 
sometimes visited in the shooting season by the noble 
owner,'' 

It was with the most lively interest, not to say "deep 
emotion," that I gazed upon those ivy mantled buildings, 
particularly the one that contained the graves of my 
"kindred.*' A feeling came over me resembling, I sup- 
pose, that with which Mark Twain viewed the grave of 
his "blood relative, Adam," in the Holy Land. "Not a 
near relative, it is true ; some six thousand summers have 
passed between his day and mine," said Mark, "but still 
we are relatives,'' Thomas Lord Wharton was "not a 
near relative, it is true" ; about two hundred and fifty 
years had passed between us, but still, oh, still a relative. 
How affecting was the scene 1 

The family, it is said, originally came over to England 
with the Normans. Rev John A. Wharton, a jurist, and 
also a minister of the Episcopal Church, writes : "I heard 
Dr. Wm. H. Wharton, now deceased, say that the family 
came over to England with William the Conqueror and 
was in some way connected with that Prince.'' Be this as 
it may, I am quite sure that Judge Wharton and all the 
Whartons of my acquaintance are "plain, blunt men'' who 
indorse heartily the sentiment so beautifully expressed 
by Tennyson : 

"From yon blue heavens above us bent. 
The gardener, Adam, and his wife 
Smile on the lines of long descent. 



334 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

"Howe'er it be, it seems to me 

'Tis only noble to be good. 

Kind hearts are more than coronets, 

And simp e faith than Norman blood." 

ENTERING SCOTLAND, 

When the train reached Carlisle, the old and historic 
city on the Scottish line, the darkness of night had set in, 
but the trembling gas jets that revealed narrow and crook- 
ed streets, and antiquated houses recalled "the light of 
other days," when this very spot was the scene of "bor- 
der warfare." Then Scotland and England were contend- 
ing for the mastery of that picturesque region. How 
Edward, Htsselrig, and others on the one hand, and 
William Wallace, Robert Bruce and others, on the other, 
had "marched and countermarched," and ever and anon 
engaged in those hot conflicts which called forth the "pa- 
triotic tide that streamed through Wallace's undaunted 
heart." Along these very roads too, after the forces of 
Scotland had succumbed to those of England, wandering 
minstrels had tramped with harp or bag-pipe, awakening 
memories of the "brave days of old " 

We soon came in sight of the locality of Gretna Green, 
where in former times no less than three hundred runaway 
marriages took place annually. The ride from Car- 
lisle, passing many an interesting town and stream of 
familiar name, was rapid indeed, for the train made 
sixty miles an hour. Sitting in our coupes we were more 
anxious and alarmed at the exploits of the "Flying Scotch- 
man'' (as the train was called), than at the wild plunges 
of the "City of Chester" in mid ocean. We stopped sev- 
eral days on this line, when we returned, and notes of 
what we saw will be given further on. 

We concluded that we would sit still, listen to the buz- 
zing of the cars, and keep our nerves as quiet as possible, 
but the way the train flew, reminded me of the remark 
of a man I had before met, who said the train on which 
he traveled went so fast that the telegraph poles looked 
like a picket fence. On and on we went "rustling over 
ridges, buzzing through the vale," until a loud blast from 
the whistle caused me to look out and ascertain our prog- 
ress. We were "within a mile of Edinboro' town." 



CHAPTER XVIIL 



EDINBURGH. 

A bird's eye view. 

The ride from London to Edinburgh, when direct, takes 
seventeen hours by the fast trains that go at fifty or sixty 
miles an hour, so that going from London to Edinburgh 
is like going from Atlanta to New York. But it must be 
remembered that we made a detour to Liverpool and 
stopped there a few days en route. Having reached the 
depot about ten o'clock at night, we entered a carriage, 
repaired to the Royal Hotel and secured elegant apart- 
ments. This hotel we found to be a good one but very 
expensive. Indeed, the most costly hotels we found in 
all our travels were in Scotland. One cannot live there 
in first-class style on less than five dollars per day. I re- 
member paying three dollars and seventy-five cents per 
day for "attendance'' on two rooms, which included 
making up the beds, sweeping the rooms and emptying 
the slops. These hotels are conducted more nearly on the 
"American plan," than any in Europe. You are presented 
with a good breakfast and elegant table d hote, supper be- 
ing ordered by the card. 

It is said that the best English in the world is spoken 
in Edinburgh, but this is true only of the higher classes. 
It was with difficulty that I could understand some of the 
servants at the h'tels. I addressed one in English but 
his reply was hardly intelligible. I then spoke a little 
German to him when he shook his head in disgust. I 
next tried him in poor French. He still shook nis head. 
"What language do you speak ?" I asked. "I cannot 
speak American^' was his reply. 



336 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Having spent a comfortable night, next morning I had 
from my windows an excellent panoramic view of the city. 
I at once pronounced it beautiful, one of the handsomest, 
if not the handsomest city in Europe. Its situation is 
picturesque and grand in the extreme, resembling that of 
Prague in Bohemia, before described. It had once 250,000 
inhabitants, and is located within two miles of the Frith 
ot Forth, and the town of Leith, its port, where an Ameri- 
can Consulate is stationed. It is built like Rome, on a 
series of hills. On the highest hill is the renowned castle, 
which descends gradually to the site of Holyrood Palace, 
and on the slopes are the houses of the "old town." 
Another hill runs to the foot of Salisbury Crags, which 
rise in picturesque grandeur in the distance. Next comes 
a third long hill on which the beautiful " new town'' is 
built. The views in every direction are superb. It is a 
well known fact that Sir Walter Scott, in Marmion, chose 
that from Blackford Hill. The mcst popular point of ob- 
servation, with tourists, is that called "Rest and be thank- 
ful." 

In front of our hotel ran the celebrated Princess Street, 
the Scottish Champs Elysees, which has many objects of 
greatest interest upon its borders. I traversed this street 
from one end to the otlier, again and again, and the walk 
was always full of incident and exhilaration. Right across 
the street from our hotel stands the Scott monument, one 
of the grandest structures of the kind in the world. It is 
an open spire, and is 200 feet high. I ascended the inte- 
rior staircase till about half way up, and then becoming 
dizzy, returned. On the lower arch is the matchless statue 
of Sir Walter and his favorite dog Maida, lying at his feet, 
in gray Carrara marble. The figures occupying the 
niches above are Prince Charles Edward, Meg Merilles, the 
last Minstrel, the Lady of the Lake, and George Heriot» 
Above the first arch is a large room or museum contain- 
ing relics of the past, and also a collection of the various 
editions of his writings. The monument cost about $80,- 
COO, It stands in a handsomely laid out park, known as 
Princess Street Gardens. On Princess Street, near Scott's 
monument, is a fine statue of Professor Wilson, the Chris- 




'i'^t 











ut 'jL'aag^jS '.anji* 



EDINBURGH. 337 

topher North of Blackwoocfs Magasine. I soon came to a 
splendid structure, which I learned was the Royal Institu- 
tion. I had seen so many iruseums and art galleries that 
I had no disposition to enter. On the other side of the 
street stood a statue of Allan Ramsay, the author of the 
"'Gentle Shepherd." In close proximity to the Royal In- 
stitution is the National Gallery, with a magnificent col- 
lection of ancient and modern paintings. 

What is known as the " Mound," is an accumulation of 
earth resembling a railroad embankment, which connects 
the old and new towns. It arose accidentally, but now 
serves a valuable purpose. Permission was granted to the 
citizens who wished to build houses to deposit the waste 
earth in the North Loch Valley, and as the accumulation 
grew in size, it became apparent at once that it would be 
a valuable means of connecting the towns divided by this 
deep valley. On the east side of the bank is a row of 
very tall and very ancient buildings that have a history. 
The cream of Edinburgh society once inhabited them. 
David Hume, the historian, among others, occupied one 
of the upper flats ; and Boswell here entertained the cele- 
brated Dr. Johnson on his visit to Scotland. At the end 
of the street rises the most noted spot about Edinburgh, 
namely, " Castle Hill.'' 

THE CASTLE. 

The first important object that visitors wish to inspect 
on reaching Edinburgh is the historic old castle. We 
ascended the hill which is a little like climbing Stone 
Mountain, until we came to a gate guarded by soldiers in 
Highland uniform and flanked by two batteries. We then 
passed through two other gates beyond which were placed 
the artillery stores, and Argyle's Battery. The armory 
on the west side had 30,000 stand of arms. At the top, 
just before entering the enclosure, we were shown the 
great gun "Mons Meg,'' made at Mons in Brittany in 
i486. The most elevated part of the castle has a "court" 
or quadrangle one hundred feet square, three hundred 
and eighty three feet above the sea level, the houses being 
used as hospitals and barracks. It was once a royal res- 
22 



338 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

idence and we entered eagerly to see the apartments of 
Queen Mary, better known as "Mary Queen of Scots." 
We entered the small room (about twelve feet square, I 
should think), in which James VI. of Scotland (who was 
James I. of England), was born June 19th, 1546. I put 
my head through the little window through which the 
royal babe was let down in a basket to the foot of castle 
rock, whence he was conveyed to Stirling Castle for safety. 
We viewed a fine portrait of Queen Mary in this room. 
We next entered the "Regalia"' room where in a glass 
case we saw the crown, sceptre, sword of state and other 
costly crown jewels. Here, also, was the golden collar of 
the garter conferred by Queen Elizabeth on James VL 
with the George and Dragon believed to be the finest 
jewel of the kind in existence. In this same room is shown 
the oak chest in which the Regalia of Scotland lay lost 
until 1817, when they were found by Sir Walter Scott. 
We then left the quadrangle and entered St. Margaret's 
chapel, "dedicated to the sainted Queen of Malcolm Cum- 
min," and in which every child born in the castle is bap- 
tized. One arch was specially interesting that our atten- 
tion was called to on coming out, as having been that un- 
der which Oliver Cromwell had marched. He defeated 
the Scots in 1650 and took possession of the castle. 

One day we visited the castle to witness a grand pa- 
rade and drill of the Scottish Highlanders. The occasion 
was that of extending a welcome to the Highland soldiers 
that had fought so nobly in the recently terminated war 
with Egypt. We saw the battle scarred heroes as in filth 
and tatters they were brought up to the castle, and re- 
ceived by the gayly attired regiment of Highlanders over 
1,000 strong. It was the most interesting military display 
I ever witnessed. What attracted me most was the cos- 
tumes of the soldiers. The day was cold, raw, and it was 
drizzling rain, and yet these hardy fellows with bare legs, 
(having no covering from the hips down but the short 
skirts of their kilts), marched and counter-marched, ad- 
vanced, knelt, "fired and fell back," with as ready a grace 
as if they had been waltzing in a warm parlor. The cos- 
tume of the Highland soldier is simply barbarous. 



EDINBURGH. 339 

As I gazed for the last time on the walls of that vener- 
able pile, many incidents of its long and eventful history 
rose before me. How old it is ! The castle moat is 
said to have been a fortress before the subjugation of the 
Scots by the Romans. It was called in the Gaelic, Magh- 
dun. in the British Maiden, styled, hence in English, Mai- 
den Castle, and by Latin writers it was called Castruin 
Puellarinn. This name was occasioned by the romantic 
story that British kings in times of war sent their daugh- 
ters here for protection. In the beginning of the seventh 
century the place was called Edwin's burgh, from Edwin, 
king of Northumbria, who occasionally made his residence 
here. About the middle of the ninth century the pos- 
session of the castle was hotly contested by the Scots and 
Anglo-Saxons. In the twelfth century William the Lion 
made this old castle his residence. In June 1291 the cas- 
tle was surrendered to Edward I. of England. In 13 13 it 
was stormed and destroyed at midnight. It was rebuilt 
and occupied as a residence b}^ Edward III, of England. 
During the reign of King David it was the seat of Parlia- 
ment. But what made it more interesting than anything 
else was its association with the names of Wallace and 
Bruce, who are to the military glory of Scotland what 
Burns and Scott are to its literature. But we turn our 
faces toward another great object of interest. 

HOLYROOD PALACE. 

Holyrood Palace is a stately, but gloomy structure, quad- 
rangular in shape, gothic in order, and measuring about 
230 feet to the side. It was originally an Abbey founded by 
David I Burton thus details the legend which caused its 
erection : " King David had gone a hunting in the forest 
of Dramshench, on which stand Charlotte Square and other 
partsof western Edinburgh. The day was the commemora- 
tion of the Exaltation of the Cross. The King followed his 
sport in defiance of the solemn admonition of his confes- 
sor, and of course something was to come of his so doing. 
He followed, unattended, a stag, which stood at bay and 
would have done him deadly injury but a sacred relic, a 
fragment of the true cross, at the moment miraculously 



340 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

slid into his hands and the furious animal vanished." On 
the following night he was admonished to build an ab- 
bey on the spot " where he got the cross." It was nam- 
ed Holyrood, (which is simply holy rod) from this circum- 
stance. Of course, the possession of so valuable a relic 
made the abbey sacred in the eyes of all, and pilgrims 
flocked to it from every direction. In the abbey many 
royal guests were entertained ; among them James I. and 
his queen. The royal visits to the place led to the erec- 
tion of a palace in connection with the abbey, some think 
as early as the times of James IV., for his marriage with 
Margaret, daughter of Henry VII. of England, is said to 
have occurred in Holyrood Palace. Only small portions 
of the original building remain, but these, notably Queen 
Mary's apartments, are full of absorbing interest to the 
tourist. There we beheld the "presence chamber," in 
which the interview took place between Mary and John 
Knox, the leader of the Protestant reformation in Scot- 
land, He succeeded in having the reformed religion es- 
tablished and Roman Catholicism prohibited by law. 

On the arrival of the young Queen from France, she 
summoned the reformer to her presence. Six interviews 
are reported as having taken place between them, and the 
questions she raised were discussed by him with such 
determination, vigor and eloquence, that she was brought 
to tears. She ordered his arrest, but all her counsellors, ex- 
cept some subordinates, voted for his acquittal. It was 
interesting to view the apartment where their celebrated 
interviews took place. 

We entered the room where Queen Mary slept, and 
the bed is there, drapery and all, just as she left it, with 
the exception of that decay which is inseparable from 
long exposure to the corroding hand of Time. A bed 
over three hundred years old may well be supposed to be 
affected with the "dry rot." 

Near the bed hangs King James' "baby basket," a relic of 
the babyhood of the sixth James of Scotland and the first 
James of England. The embroidery on the chairs in the 
room was wrought by Mary's own hand; and the pictures of 
herself and family on the walls, hanging now as they hung 



EDINBURGH. 341 

then, are greater objects of interest than many masterpieces 
of the great artists, not as works of art, however, but as 
mementoes of the hoary past. On the hall floor, just out- 
side of the bed chamber, dark spots are shown, said to 
have been made by the blood of Rizzio, as his body was 
borne thither, immediately after his murder, by Darnley 
and Ruthven. The murder took place in the Queen's 
boudoir, a little room adjoining the bed chamber, about ten 
feet square, and connected by a flight of stairs with the 
chapel below. While the Queen and her Italian secretary, 
Rizzio, with one or two other friends, were at supper, the 
assassins ascended by the stairs mentioned, and in an in- 
stant, (Darnley pretending to embrace his wife that he 
might shield her, but really holding her so that she could 
not assist Rizzio) Ruthven and others thrust their daggers 
into the heart of the unsuspecting and ill-fated secretary. 
The ruined chapel below bears traces of its original 
splendor; and in a vault, beneath the south aisle, rest the 
remains of David II. James II. and his Queen, and the 
third son of James IV., James V., his queen, and second 
son, and Lord Darnley, husband of "Mary Queen of Scots,'' 
and murderer of Rizzio. 

We lingered for along time about this old palace, look- 
ing at its rooms ; its picture gallery ; its historic relics ; and 
came out to gaze on the more inspiring scenes of the 
splendid city, covering lovely hills on the right, while on 
the left towered the picturesque Salisbury Crags. 

Edinburgh is the last city that should be visited by the 
European tourist, for it recalls pleasantly many places on 
the continent. As Sir David Wilkie remarked, " Here are 
alike the beauties of Prague and of Salzburg; here are the 
romantic sites of Ovietc and Tivoli, of Geneva and Na- 
ples; here indeed to the poet's fancy may be found real- 
ized the Roman capitol and the Grecian Acropolis. On 
our way to our hotel we stopped to get a view of Calton 
Hill, whose summit is one of the finest points of observation 
about the city, and is itself attractive on account of the 
noble monuments and other edifices that crown its brow, 
those of Burns, Dugald Stewart, Lord Nelson and Pro- 
fessor Playfair being the most conspicuous. We entered 



342 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

Burns' monument, where an interesting collection of relics 
of the great poet is kept, such as innumerable manu- 
scripts, his walking canes, drinking cups, etc. These things 
recalled the time when poor Burns was scarcely known in 
this proud city, going there a friendless boy, but rising by 
his genius to the first position in society, which he might 
have retained through life but for the influence of strong 
drink, 

"Which led him down from life and light, 
And all that made his pathway bright," 

causing him to perish at last in want and misery. 

OBSERVATIONS. 

There were many things in Edinburgh that attracted 
our attention, worthy of note, but with a few observations 
I leave the subject. On Sabbath we heard the celebrated 
Dr. McGregor, of the 'Church of Scotland, preach. He 
is the foremost orator in this land of orators ; like Zaccheus, 
is small of stature, and is afflicted with lameness, but is 
still not known " better by his walk than his conversa- 
tion." They call him the " little preacher." He always 
retorts when he hears that appellation, " No, I am the 
little man, not the little preacher." On that Sunday his 
subject was the Disestablishment of the Church of Scot- 
land, and he spoke in opposition to the efforts of the Free 
Church party to destroy this ancient institution. He was 
very severe upon the voluntary principle of the Americans, 
and said that the $1,500,000 which the church received 
from the crown annually was necessary for the religious 
instruction of the poor. He was eloquent, but not con- 
vincing ; and I predict that the Free Church party will 
ultimately succeed and the disestablishment of that Church 
will be the entering wedge to the disestablishment of the 
Church of England. There is no denying the fact, I think, 
that the American system is at the bottom of this great 
movement, and some modern John Knox will arise to 
undo at least so much of the work of the old reformer as 
pertains to the union of the Church with the State. So 
mote it be. 



EDINBURGH. 343 

We remained in Edinburgh several days, hoping for 
weather that would permit a visit to the Trossacks, the 
celebrated lake region of Scotland. But it rained all the 
while. The question was asked of an urchin, " Does it 
rain here all the time ?" His nonchalant reply was, "Naw, 
sir, sometimes it snaws;" and really, it seemed to do one 
or the other all the time. 

Two things struck me as characteristic of the Scotch 
people: (i) they are the greatest church-going people I 
ever saw, and (2) they drink more whisky than any peo- 
ple in the world. On Sabbath the streets of Edinburgh 
are crowded with church-goers, and in the hotels the 
guests are all the time calling for " hot Scotch," that is, 
Scotch whisky taken with hot water and sugar. I saw 
but few beautiful women in Scotland. Though they are 
elegant in their manners and most tasteful in their dress, 
they do not possess the physical charms of their English 
sisters. 

While I was in Edinburgh, Edwin Booth was there play- 
ing some of his most celebrated characters. He created 
about the same sensation that Irving did here on his re- 
cent visit ; and though I did not go to see him, it was 
pleasant to hear an American so highly spoken of. I left 
Edinburgh with the most delightful impressions of the 
place and people. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE LAND OF BURNS. 

" O Scotia ! my dear, my native soil, 

For whom my warmest wish to heaven is sent ! 
Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil 

Be blest with health and peace and sweet content ; 
And oh ! may Heav'n their simple lives prevent 

From Luxury's contagion, weak and vile ! 
Then, however croiv7ts and coronets be rent, 

A virtuous populace will rise the while, 
And stand a wall of fire around their much-loved Isle." 

No truer patriot and no sweeter poet ever lived than 
Robert Burns. He was Nature's own bard. He was the 
Shakespeare of Scotland, and Tam O'Shanter, the Cotter's 
Saturday Night, the Jolly Beggars, and his incomparable 
songs will live and increase in popularity " down to the 
last syllable of recorded time." The charm of a visit to 
Scotland consists largely in the opportunity it presents of 
seeing the ancient humble home of this wonderful poet, 
who " touched his harp and Nature heard entranced." 

In order to reach this Mecca of poetical pilgrims we had 
to pass through the great seaport, 

GLASGOW, 

which is the largest city in Scotland, having over 600,000 
inhabitants, and ranking with its English rival, Liverpool. 
It is situated on the river Clyde, not far from its mouth. 
Like Liverpool, it is of comparatively recent growth, and 
owes its importance to foreign commerce. The Clyde was 
at the beginning of this century only a few feet wide and 
five feet deep, but enormous sums have been spent in 
widening and deepening the channel. Now, vessels of 
2,000 tons can readily navigate it ; and at high tide ships 



THE LAND OF BURNS. 345 

drawing 21 feet of water can sail on its bosom. On 
the Clyde are immense ship-yards, the finest vessels in the 
world, and nearly all of the English, Scotch and American 
lines being built here. The first steamer ever constructed 
was built here four years after Fulton's invention. 

I cannot say that Glasgow is a pretty place, but it cer- 
tainly bears every evidence of commercial activity and 
importance. 

On the day of our arrival, a reception was given to the 
Duke of Albany, Queen Victoria's son, and his bride. We 
had the honor of being a part of the great crowd that 
formed a line, or I should say a "lane," through which 
their highnesses were driven, in an elegant carriage drawn 
by four beautiful grays. The duke was a fine looking 
young man, and his bride {nee Baroness Von I'eck of Ger- 
many,) was a magnificent specimen of a lady. They 
seemed very happy, but since then the duke has died, and 
the young and beautiful wife is left alone in the world. 
No one can escape death, and I am here reminded of the 
saying of Horace, " Death visits with impartial step the 
hovels of the poor and the palaces of kings." The crowd 
that welcomed the duke and duchess that day was im- 
mense. It was Saturday, and mechanics and working 
men generally quit their work, and united with the gran- 
dees in doing honor to this son of " Her Majesty." Mul- 
titudes of the people were drunk, and we were glad to 
get away from the noisy and disorderly crowd. We visited 
the attractive scenes in the vicinity of George Square. 
Here are many splendid monuments, particularly that of 
Sir Walter Scott, but the plaid is thrown over the wrong 
shoulder on the statue, which shows that the artist was a 
low countryman, as some one has remarked. On the upper 
part of High Street, known as the " Bell of Brae,'' is the 
place where Sir William Wallace defeated Percy and his 
English troops, but it does not look much like a battle 
ground new. There are many public buildings in Glas- 
gow which would have repaid the labor and fatigue of a 
visit to them, but we were anxious to hasten on; and go- 
ing to the depot, were soon dashing along on the 
banks of the Clyde, now in full view of the "deep blue sea" 



346 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

that was soon to bear us to our loved home ; now hard by 
an old castle covered with ivy, and rich in legendary his- 
tory, until at last we drew up at a place forever memora- 
ble "in story and in song," — it was Ayr. 

burns' HOME. 

At the depot we found excellent waiting rooms and re- 
freshment saloons, and quite a number of comfortable 
carriages, with proffers from the importunate drivers, to 
take us (and my party consisted of five), anywhere and 
everywhere at $2.00 per hour. We first drove through 
the town where we caught glimpses of the "Auld brig," 
immortalized by Burns; the Wallace Tower which con- 
tains a colossal statue of Wallace, and the "dungeon 
clock'' of the poet : the house in which Wallace found 
shelter on a certain occasion ; the "fort" erected by Crom- 
well ; the Tam O'Shanter's Inn, which we entered and 
where we saw the room and the tables where Tam and 
Souter Johnny regaled themselves, and the very cups 
out of which they drank on that memorable night when 
"Tam must ride." Ayr is on the sea shore and possesses 
those charms of scenery and atmosphere which the sea 
alone can confer. It was in this neighborhood that Rob- 
ert Bruce landed, when he began the struggle for his crown 
which terminated in the victory of Bannockburn. 

But the great object of interest was yet to be seen. 
Taking the supposed road that Tam O'Shanter traveled 
with his "Mare Meg" on that eventful night, we proceed- 
ed over beautiful landscapes to Burns' Cottage, two or 
three miles distant. We soon came to that "lowly straw- 
thatched cottage," pictures of which we had so often seen. 
It stands on the right of the road side as you go out, on 
seven acres of land once rented by the poet's father. We 
entered the room where transpired those scenes so graph- 
ically described in The Cotter's Saturday Night. Around 
this hearth they sat, on this floor they knelt. Could it be, 
I thought, that this coarse, plain room was the nursery of 
genius? It was even so. This is the room in which 
Robert Burns was born and there in the corner, is a 
"primitive" bed on which the poet of nature first saw the 



THE LAND OF BURNS. 347 

light, January 25th, 1759. The cottage is kept in a good 
state of repair, and several rooms have been fitted up 
where relics and curiosities are exposed for sale, particu- 
larly articles made from wood that grew on the banks of 
the Doon. 

We went next to "Old Kirk Alloway'' about a half 
mile distant. Now only the walls remain, ,but the 
bell still hangs in its old place. The poet's father lies 
buried in the churchyard, where lie those whose ghosts 
so frightened Tarn O'Shanter. Burns loved his father and 
wrote the following epitaph which was formerly inscribed 
on his tomb: 

"O ye, whose cheek the tear of pity stains, 
Draw near with pious reverence and attend, ■ 
Here hes the loving husband's dear remains, 
The tender father and the generous friend, 
The pitying heart that felt for human woe. 
The dauntless breast that feared no human pride, 
The friend of man — to vice alone a foe ; 
For e'en his failings leaned to virtue's side." 

The sexton was in the churchyard, and as soon as we 
arrived began to sing grave-yard songs in the Scotch 
tongue, some of which affected us deeply, as they doubt- 
less had done many before us. A shilling was enough to 
induce him to show us all the curious graves, which he did 
"with alacrity and delight.'' 

Near the church, on the left of the road, we visited 
Burns' celebrated monument, the one which tradition 
says called forth from his old mother the remark: "Robert 
asked for bread but they gave him a stone " On the 
ground floor is a museum, a circular room where the relics 
of the past are kept, and here we saw his manuscripts, his 
wine glasses, and the veritable Bible which he gave to 
Highland Mary, with an inscription to her mother with 
his own hand. Burns loved that girl, and had he married 
her his whole subsequent life might have been different. 
I purchased an "original'' photograph (of course) of 
Highland Mary, and her face is lovely indeed. But I can- 
not say the samiC for "Bonnie Jean," the wife, whose pic- 
ture I also secured. The monument is in a beautiful 



348 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

park on the "banks of the Doon," and we left the enclos- 
ure to walk over the "auld brig o' Doon," immortalized 
by Tarn's ride. We also strolled up and down the banks 
of the picturesque stream, with the tender words of the 
poet occupying our thoughts: 

"Ye banks and braes of bonny Doon 
How can ye bloom so fresh and fair ? 
How can ye chant, ye 'itt'e birds, 
And I so weary, full of care ? 
Thou'lt break my heart, thou warbling bird, 
That wantons 'mid the flowery thorn, 
Thou 'mind'st me of departed joys, 
Departed never to return." 

In a small room in the monument are the life-size stat- 
ues of Tarn O'Shanter and Souter Johnny. The original 
hero of Burns' poem was one Douglas Graham, of Shanter 
Farm, in this neighborhood, and here rest the remains of 
this Scottish Yorrick, who, judging from his "stature, was 
a fellow of infinite jest and of capacious soul.'' Hearing 
that two of Burns' own nieces lived in the neighborhood, 
we called to see them, and were most cordially received 
and kindly treated. They were aged about eighty and 
ninety respectively, were pious Presbyterians, bright and 
cheerful in their manners and seemed to be delighted 
with our visit. They loved to talk of "Robert," and one 
of them resembled closely the picture of Burns which 
usually accompanies his works. They showed us a great 
number of the poet's manuscript letters and other papers. 
Their name was Beggs and they had never married. 
They were the daughters of the poet's youngest sister. 
Since my return one of them has died. The visit to these 
saintly old ladies was full of interest. We returned to 
Ayr, to Glasgow, and to Edinburgh after one of the rich- 
est experiences we ever enjoyed. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE LAND OF SCOTT. 

In England and Scotland the localities that are associ- 
ated with the lives of illustrious men are often styled, 
and placed on nnaps as the "lands'' of such men. In Eng- 
land, for example, they have the "Land of Shakespeare," 
and in Scotland the "Land of Burns," and the "Land of 
Scott.'' I have already described my visit to the "Land of 
Burns," and my closing chapter on Scotland, and last but 
one of my entire views abroad, will be on the "Land of 
Scott." I have before remarked that Burns was patriotic. 
Scott was equally so. It was he who sang: 

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 
This is my own, my native land ! 
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, 
As home his footsteps he hath turned 
From wandering on a foreign strand .'' 
If s'jcn there be go mark him well, 
For him no minstrel's raptures swell. 
High though his titles, proud his name, 
Boundless his wealth as wish could claim, 
Despite those titles, power and pelf, 
The wretch concentred all in self, 
Living shall forfeit fair renown 
And doubly dying shall go down. 
To the vile dust from whence he sprung. 
Unwept, unhonored and unsung." 

I have given these lines not only to show that he was pa- 
triotic, but to give a specimen of his heroic verse, which in 
Rokeby, the Lady of the Lake, the Lay of the Last Minstrel, 
Marmion, and other poems, has so charmed and delight- 
ed the world. But great as he was as a poet, he was great- 
ter as a novelist, and the "Waverley Novels," fordescrip- 



350 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

tive power, and absorbing historical and legendary in- 
terest have never been surpassed, either before or since 
his day. Unlike Burns he was both rich and noble, and 
as will be presently seen, left behind him memorials of 
his greatness, which render his "Land" one of the most 
attractive places of resort in the whole world. After 
remaining a few days in Edinburgh, on our return from 
Ayr, we visited Melrose, 37 miles distant, on the same 
road we had traveled from London to Edinburgh. 

MELROSE ABBEY. 

The town of Melrose is not large, but is situated in a 
most picturesque and beautiful region, in the midst of 
which rises the "Eildon Hills,'' celebrated in the works of 
Scott. From one of these eminences one can witness the 
tortuous flowing of the Tweed, and many of the old Bor- 
der battlefields. From the depot to the Abbey is a short 
walk. There are several good hotels in the town, but we 
concluded to stop at the Abbey Hotel, kept by ladies, 
and presenting, (as we found on entering) a most cheerful 
and homelike appearance. This little hotel, like all oth- 
ers in Scotland, we found to be very expensive; but as 
the accommodations were good we made no complaint. 
There is in this hotel a museum filled with almost every 
description of Scottish curiosities, for the gratuitous in- 
spection of the guests. Our rooms were on the second story 
and overlooked the Abbey burial grounds. From our win- 
dows we enjoyed all the views of the historic ruins that 
could be desired — by sunrise, sunset, and moonlight. 

This old Abbey, like Holyrood, was founded by King 
David, and presents the finest specimen of Gothic archi- 
tecture in the world. The building is in the form of a Latin 
cross, 285 by 130 feet, and every portion of the architec- 
ture is so perfect as to win the admiration of of all behold- 
ers. It was destroyed by the English, and rebuilt by Rob- 
ert Bruce, in the present magnificent style. The win- 
dows and doors are marvels of beauty, and on all sides are 
sculptures of flowers, plants, animals, and men, so com- 
plete, so delicate, so true to nature, as to have the ap- 
pearance of a recent creation. Of one of the windows 



THE LAND OF SCOTT. 35 1 

Walter Scott remarked : "It is impossible to conceive a 
more beautiful specimen of the lightness and elegance of 
Gothic architecture when in its purity." I noticed the 
forms of leaves and stalks so delicately traced that a pin 
could be thrust between the interstices. 

Within the walls lie buried Alexander II. James, Earl of 
Douglas, Scott, of Buccleugh, and other border families. On 
the north part of the floor I noticed a small stone marking 
the spot where was buried "the heart of Bruce," after the 
unsuccessful attempt to convey it to Palestine. In the 
centre was a stone seat, on which Sir Walter Scott usual- 
ly sat, when drinking in the inspirations of the scene. j,"The 
Lay of the Last Minstrel," has a description of the abbey 
which is beautiful, and as true as beautiful. One of the 
windows, called the "apprentice's window," has connected 
with it the legend that it was made by an apprentice dur- 
ing the absence of his master, who became so envious of 
his success that he murdered him. O these legends ! 

The photographic views, books and wood curiosities 
exposed for sale in one of the cloisters, are splendid speci- 
mens of the attractive trifles that catch the pennies of 
European sight-seers Melrose Abbey has been immor 
talized by Sir Walter Scott, whose genius has thrown over 
the classic and mystical ruins a charm that can be felt but 
not expressed. 

ABBOTSFORD. 

Three miles from Melrose, on the banks of the Tweed,, 
is Abbotsford, the palatial ho-me of Scott. On our way 
out, we met some handsome Scottish "lassies" in the 
road ; I asked their names, and was told that they 
were the children of James R. Hope Scott, Esq., grand- 
son-in law of the poet, the present owner of the property, 
and who holds the high distinction of being one of the 
Queen's Counsel. On approaching the house, I noticed 
at the gateway the implements of torture used by the 
Douglases at Thrieve Castle. The house has a frontage 
of i6o feet. It was built by Sir Walter after his own de 
signs, and may be regarded as a " patchwork palace" of a 
magnificent kind. Stones from all parts of the country. 



352 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

each having a history, were inserted in the building. Al- 
most every ancient structure in Scotland has sent its contri- 
bution to Abbotsford. Holyrood, Dunfermline, Linlithgow, 
Melrose and Roslin, are all represented in the picturesque 
walls. But let us enter this superb structure. The great 
door is surmounted with a gigantic pair of antlers. The 
hall is adorned wirh stained glass windows of curious 
designs, and the walls are hung with the arms of Rob Roy, 
Montrose, Napoleon, etc. The parlor is furnished with 
an elegant ebony set, donated by George IV. Another 
room contains innumerable valuable curiosities, among 
them the cross of Mary Queen of Scots, worn at the time 
of her death, and her pocket Bible, with notes in her own 
hand-writing. In another room we saw some of the hair 
of Napoleon, and the drinking cups of Burns. In still 
another we saw the veritable chest in which Ginevra 
perished. The young bride , to "play a trick" on her 
husband, hid herself in this chest, which becoming fasten- 
ed with its spring lock, rendered her extrication impossible. 
No occasion for opening the chest having occurred for 
sixteen years, when it was opened, only the bones of the 
long lost one were found. 

The most interesting room of all was the library just 
as the great student left it, and containing 20,000 splendid 
volumes. Here, also, are some chairs donated to the poet 
by the Pope; a writing-desk presented by George III. ; a 
silver urn presented by Lord Byron ; and in a glass case 
the suit of clothes worn by the great man at the tir^ie of 
his death. There was the table on which he wrote his 
multitudinous works, and there the arm chair on which he 
sat while writing. I took a seat in this chair, viewed the 
interesting mementoes around, proud as a Jew "sitting in 
Moses' seat." I ascended the spiral staircase connecting 
the library with his bed-chamber, and down which the 
great author would trip early every morning to do his 
writing for the day, all of which was finished before his 
guests came down to breakfast. And yet Scott was one 
of the most accurate and voluminous writers that ever 
lived. How much can be accomplished by system ! The 
fee for each person visiting Abbotsford is one shilling, and 



THE LAND OF SCOTT. 353 

the income to " Hope Scott," as he is familiarly called, 
thus accruing, is said to be immense. 

In the " porter's lodge" canes of various kinds were 
offered for sale. "What sort of wood is this ?" I asked of 
the man having them in charge. " Hit his hash,'' he re- 
plied ; and one of our party not recognizing the fact that 
he was a cockney, asked, "What sort of wood is hash f 
We returned to Melrose. The day was bright, the roads 
were good, the scenery was inspiring, and the coachman 
obliging^ — all of which conspired to make the visit to Ab- 
botsford one that shall linger long and pleasantly in our 
memories. 



CHAPTER XXL 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 

REFLECTIONS ON LEAVING EUROPE. 

Having finished sight seeing in Scotland, which would 
'have been more extensive but for the inclenrient season 
and the pressure for time, we proceeded to Liverpool pre- 
paratory to sailing. We decided to engage quarters at 
the Northwestern Hotel, but that huge establishment was 
so full we had to be taken in an elevator to the top floor, 
where the rooms were small, badly lighted and "low pitch- 
ed." We resolved to seek another place. Across the 
;street diagonally was a hotel of good proportions with the 
name in conspicuous characters on the walls, "Wash- 
lington Hotel." This we selected. The name of the father 
• of his country never looked so dear to us before, for it 
suggested everything good and lovely in that land on 
^which our thoughts were now fixed. This allusion gives 
me a good opportunity for remarking that I quit Europe 
a better American than ever, and honestly believing that 
ours is the greatest country on the globe. Here is Europe, 
I mused, with its old civilization, its art galleries, its mon- 
uments, its gilded palaces, its crowned heads, but with its 
xiespotisms, its peasants and its paupers. There stands 
America, "the gem of the ocean," the home of freedom, 
the hope of nations, the asylum of the oppressed. There 
she stands with her boundless domain, her fertile fields, 
.her waving forests, her inexhaustible mines, her matchless 
irivers, her free government, her soul liberty, her religious 
progress, her brave men and her beautiful women. And 
my readers may rest assured that I loved America that 
moment" better than I had ever done before. Had I not 
done so, I would have been the *'man with soul so dead" 
described by Sir Walter Scott.: 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 355 

"Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned 
As home his footsteps he hath turned 
From wandering in a foreign land." 

One of the strangest things in the world to me is, that 
so many Americans who visit Europe become European- 
ized. Many change their names, adopt an entirely new 
pronunciation and affect the stiffness and quiet of English 
manners, or the extreme politeness and softness of the 
French, until, like Shakespeare's players, they may be de- 
scribed as "neither having the accent of Christians, nor 
the gait of Christians, Pagans nor man.'' These men 
come back with their heads turned, and with a contempt 
for everything American. My advice to all such is to go 
abroad again, and stay there. They will leave their coun- 
try for their country's good. 

It seems to me that if anything can give one an ad- 
equate idea of the greatness of our land it is to go to Eu- 
rope. Let him gaze on the poor, oppressed people of 
Ireland, the downtrodden and seditious sons of Russia, the 
squalid and miserable peasants of Germany, Italy, France 
and England, and he will, if a thoughtful man, turn away, 
thanking God that there is yet one land, and that a great 
and capacious one, where might does not make right, 
where men reap the reward of their labors, and where gov- 
ernment is administered with the consent of the governed. 
No wonder that immigrants flock to our shores. No won- 
der that a member of the German parliament said in the 
presence of Bismarck and the assembled Congress, that 
"the highest aspiration now of a German is to make 
money enough to pay his way to the United States.'' 

I felt, then, in taking my last glimpse of the Old World, 
that Europe was a good country to visit, but that Amer- 
ica is the best country to live in. 

BOARDING THE "CITY OF BERLIN." 

'*My boat is on the shore 

And my barque is on the sea." — Byron. 

We had engaged passage on the elegant Inman steam- 
ship, "City of Berlin," the finest of the line (now that the 
City of Rome built for this company has been rejected), 



356 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

and she was even then lying at anchor in the Mersey, 
ready to sail. After a pleasant night's rest at the "Wash- 
ington," we awoke next morning to find the rain coming 
down in torrents. I do not think that I have ever in all 
my life witnessed such floods of rain as deluged Liverpool 
that day. I proceeded to the Inman office early in the 
morning and found everything in readiness, and the "tend- 
er,*' at the wharf waiting to conduct us to the ship. I 
was informed that the storm signals were all up and that 
we would have a rough passage at first. An old gentle- 
man, a clerical passenger present, hearing the re- 
mark asked "if the ship would not wait till the storm was 
over ?" "No sir,'' was the reply, "we move at precisely 
one o'clock, fair weather or foul." 

An hour or two before the starting time people began 
to crowd the wharf, coming down in carriages provided 
with waterproofs and umbrellas. Emigrants were already 
on board to the number of six hundred, and the cabin 
passengers numbered about two hundred. We were much 
concerned in looking at the faces, and watching the ma- 
neuvres of the passengers who were to constitute our 
"compagnons de voyage." Hasty good byes were spoken 
by those who were leaving dear friends, and we moved 
out about one o'clock on the little vessel, and were soon 
alongside of the grand ship to which our lives were to be 
committed over three thousand miles of deep and treach- 
erous water. Having gotten on board we were delighted 
with the splendid appearance of the vessel. The state 
rooms were large and elegant, the saloon princely, the 
dining-room palatial, (in a double sense), and the whole 
illuminated with electric lights. The ship was five hun- 
dred and thirty feet long, and had every comfort and con- 
venience. 

"Visitors ashore," again rang out, the ponderous wheels 
began to move, and we were soon fairly under way. In a 
few hours we had reached the sea, and night coming on 
we slept until the morning light revealed again "the green 
shores of Ireland." 

OLD IRELAND. 

I was very anxious to make an extended tour through 
Ireland. It was our original purpose to cross over the 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 357 

channel from Glasgow to Belfast, but two obstacles stood in 
the way ; first, the unsettled weather, and secondly, the 
state of Ireland, at that time. It was a time when the 
whole country was in disorder. Secret organizations of 
land renters were daily committing some outrage. Lord 
Cavendish and Mr. Burke had just been murdered in Phoe- 
nix Park, Dublin. The constabulary was kept busy, day 
and night, making arrests, and there was, from one end of 
the Emerald Isle to the other, a reign of terror. 

Learning that the ship was to stop a day at Queenstown 
we concluded to disembark and visit that place and Cork, 
"sweet Cork," or as the Irish girl in the play expressed it, 
"Cork in the province of Munster in my own dear native 
Ireland.': 

As soon as the City of Berlin anchored in Queenstown 
harbor, innumerable peddlers of canes, laces, etc., came up 
in small boats and got on board for the purpose of dispo- 
sing of their wares. I was approached by a little boy with 
an arm full of "Shelalahs." "What do you do with these 
things ?'' I asked. "Faith," was the reply, "these are the 
things that we pay the landlord with.'' An old woman 
came up to the Consul General of Cairo, Egypt, who was 
aboard, and proposed to sell him some laces. '"I have on- 
ly foreign money,'' he said, "and I suppose you won't take 
that.'' "Sir," she rejoined, "I will take any kind of mon- 
ey, except matrimony^ These women were the exact 
counterparts of Biddies we have in this country, and some 
of their laces and linens were very beautiful. After land- 
ing, which was again doqe by means of a "tender," we were 
besieged by a multitude of hungry, ragged beggars. 
Queenstown I found to be one of the dirtiest and most 
forbidding places I have ever seen — but has one crown- 
ing advantage. It is exactly adapted to the purpose for 
which it was designed — it is a good place to emigrate 
from. We soon got aboard the train for Cork, twelve miles 
distant, on the beautiful river Lee, along whose green 
banks we rode enjoying the enchanting scenery every- 
where spread out before us. We had even in this brief 
journey many glimpses of Irish life. The people crowded 
the depots, or sat in their doorways eagerly watching the 



3S8 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

large crowd of tourists that occupied the coaches. On 
getting to the depot at Cork, we proceeded on foot (for 
purposes of observation) through the greater part of the 
city to the principal hotel. On the way an Irishman ap- 
proached me and said : "You are an Irishman, I believe." 
"No, I am an American,'' I replied. "Ah," said he, "but 
your forefathers were Irish." "That is possible," I said, 
thinking of those things that they paid the landlords with. 
"And you are not ashamed of it either.'' "By no means," 
I said, with memories of the recent murders stealing over 
me. '^Andyefd be a scoundrel if you were,'' was the em- 
phatic rejoinder, and I concluded it was best to pass rapid- 
ly on. 

Cork is really a very beautiful city, with a population 
of about 100,000. The principal streets are Patrick, 
Grand Parade and South Mall. The houses show a great 
want of symmetry and harmony, but some of them are 
costly and attractive. We spent our time chiefly in view- 
ing the customs and manners of the people, and in exam- 
ining the fine stores, where Irish linens, poplins, laces, etc. 
are kept. 

There are many fine public buildings in and around 
Cork that we did not take time to visit, but there was one 
to which I was attracted by a famous and familiar poem — 
the Church of Shandon. It is not a very imposing edifice, 
but has an interesting history. It is most celebrated for 
its sweet-toned bells, that inspired Father Prout to sing 
as follows: 

"With deep affection. 

And recollection, 

I often think of 

Those Shandon bells, 

Whose sounds so wild would 

In the days of childhood, 

Fling round my cradle 

Their magic spells. 

On this I ponder, 

Where'er I wander. 

And thus grow fonder. 

Sweet Cork, of thee, 

With thy bells of Shandon, 

That sound so grand on 

The pleasant waters 

Of the river Lee." 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 359 

Father Prout's real name was Francis Mahony, and he 
sleeps in the Shandon church yard. I visited the grave 
and read the inscription on his tomb. Wishing to test 
the sweetness of the bells, I paid the sexton to ring them 
for us, and the music was certainly very fine. With Father 
Prout I could say : 

"I've heard bells tolling 
Old Adrian's mole in 
Their thunder rolling 
From the Vatican ; 
And cymbals glorious. 
Swinging uproarious 
In the gorgeous turrets 
Of Notre Dame." 

But 1 could not say with him — 

"Thy sounds are sweeter 
Than the dome of Peter 
Flings o'er the Tiber, 
Pealing solemnly." 

It was " memory dwelling on each proud swelling," that 
made the bells such a charm to him ; still they are sweet 
bells. 

We strolled up and down the river Lee, caught pleasant 
views of the old castles in the neighborhood, and then 
having dined at the hotel, we returned to the depot ; and 
after an hour's ride were again in Queenstown. While 
waiting for the ship's departure, we were again beset with 
beggars and venders. "Give me a shilling, and I will pray 
that the Lord will grant ye a safe passage across the 
ocean,'' said an old hag. As soon as she received it, she 
turned around and offered to make a bet with a woman at 
her side. " I am afraid your prayers are not worth much," 
I said. One woman with bare feet and ankles, for a six- 
pence thrown her by a frolicsome fellow, danced a regular 
old Irish "breakdown," in the presence of all the passen- 
gers. 

Just as the tender was about to leave the wharf, an 
affecting scene took place. It was the parting between a 
lad of eighteen years, coming to America, and his old 



360 ' ElfROPEAN NOTES. 

father and mother who had followed him from their coun- 
try home to the very water's edge, and wept when they 
bade him farewell as if their poor hearts would break. 
Long after we had left, and until they looked like two 
specks upon the, shore, we could see these two old people 
straining their gaze after the boy, who, unknown to the 
world, but dear to them, was about to seek his fortune in 
the New World. The boy likewise wept bitterly, and 
touched the syrnpathies of all who saw him. I went up to 
him and tried to £onsole him ; but alas, the thought had 
taken possession of him that he would never see his dear 
parents any more ! 

How many sad separations take place in life ! We 
should all endeavor so to liv^, as that we may reach 

"That blissful shore, 
Where falls no shadow, rests no stain. 
Where those who meet will part no more. 
And those long parted meet again." 

A STORMY PASSAGE. 
As the shores of Ireland receded from our view and the 
"waste of waters" was spread out around us, with our no- 
ble ship heading to the west, we felt the full force of the in- 
spiration that we were " Homeward Bound" indeed ; and 
the whistling of the winds, and the plashing of the waves 
seemed to chime in with the words of the familiar hymn : 

"Out on the ocean all boundless we ride, 
We're homeward bound, homeward be und. 
Tossed on the waves of a rough, restless tide 
We're homeward bound, homeward bound." 

But we were soon not so sure that we should ever reach 
that home. Storms set in soon after leaving Queenstown, 
and continued almost without cessation for four or five 
days. The scenes were terrific. Myriad waves, some of 
them mountain high, seemed to be angry with the ship 
and determined to dash her to pieces. ^ First the vessel 
rocked until all the cabin passengers except seven persons 
were frightfully sea-sick, but I am happy to say that I was 
one of the seven. The steerage part of the ship was one 
vast sickening sight — a marine hospital disgusting to be- 
hold. One squall succeeded another, until the storms 



HOMEWARD BOUND. - 361 

reached a climax. The waters were thrown over the hur- 
ricane decks, the ice house was washed away, the timbers 
were creaking, the screw groaning and occasionally the heart 
of the engine ceased to beat. The alarm was general, and 
men who had traveled all over the world swore that if 
they could touch terra finna again, they would be forever 
done with the sea. We moved on, still to encounter 
another storm equally bad. The thunders apparently 
rolled out our doom, the lightning "painted hell on the 
sky," and the waves, gathering reinforcements from every 
direction, struck such blows as it seemed impossible to 
withstand. "This is very bad," I said to the captain. He 
replied, "I don't want to see it any worse.'' One night I 
werwt on deck at one o'clock to witness the progress of the 
storm. It was a grand sight. A lone sailor was standing 
near. "You can't say that you have not seen a storm at 
sea,'' he said. "Yes, and I have seen enough of this and 
don't want to see another," I replied. "Do you think we will 
get through it?'' I inquired, "Ah, sir," he said, "the 
Berlin is a very duck for the water," and the vessel was 
plunging, and rising, and diving and fluttering after the 
manner of a duck bathing herself vigorously in her favor- 
ite element. 

After "many days" the clouds disappeared, the seas 
were calmed, and we were ready to forget the terrible 
scenes through which we had passed. It is astonishing 
how prone we are to run to the captain in times of dan- 
ger at sea. A minister v/ho was greatly frightened (so I 
was told) v/ent to the captain five times, till, wearied by 
his questions, that officer said, "You are a preacher, I be- 
lieve." "Yes, sir," was the reply. "Come with me then," 
said the captain, "and I will allay your fears" He took 
him to "midship," raised up a trap door and showed him 
a company of sailors playing cards and swearing as only 
sailors can do. "These men,'' said he, "are sailors, and 
know all about the deep. Do you suppose they would 
act in this way if the vessel was going to sink?" Greatly 
relieved, the preacher said, "I think not." Soon another 
great wave struck the ship. This time he did not go to 
the captain, bnt went to the trap door. Raising it up 



362 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

and looking down, he exclaimed, "Thank the Lord, they 
are swearing still." 

Religiousservices during the storm were very impressive, 
and the collection taken up for the benefit of the sailor's 
hospital at Liverpool was unusually large. This collec- 
tion was "lifted" at the close of a concert similar to the 
one we gave on the "City of Chester." I was again called 
on to take part, and one of the pieces was so 
admired that Dr. Pollock, an eminent physician of Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania, who was present, wrote a glowing 
account of the rendition in a Pittsburgh paper on getting 
home, it was called "The Weaver," and I reproduce 
it here for the gratification of many friends who have 
heard me recite the piece on other occasions. Besides 
this poem will form a fitting close to these notes, re- 
cognizing as it does the hand of God in conduct 
ing us over the stormy billows of life ; leading us often 
'by a way that we know not" to scenes and objects of sur- 
passing beauty and interest, and landing us at last upon 
those shores where each shall be forever happy, and from 
which "he shall go no more out.'' 

THE WEAVER. 

The Weaver at his loom is sitting, 
Throws his shuttle to and fro, 
Up and down the treadles go; 

What a rattling, 

What a battling, 

What a shuffling, 

What a scuffling! 
As the Weaver makes his shuttle 
Hither, thither, scud and scuttle. 

See the Mystic Weaver sitting 
High in Heaven, his loom below ; 
Takes for web the world's long ages, 
Takes for woof its kings and sages, - 
Takes all stations and all stages — 
Takes the nobles and their pages ; 
Thrones are bobbins in his shuttle. 
Armies make them scud and scuttle, 
Web into the woof must flow. 
Up and down the nations go ! 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 363 

Calmly see the Mystic Weaver 
Throw his shuttle to and fro, 
Mid the noise and the confusion, 
Well the Weaver seems to know 
What each motion and commotion. 
What each fusion and confusion 
In the grand result will show. 

Glorious wonder, what a weaving, 
To the dull beyond believing. 
Such no fabled ages know ; 
Only faith can see the mystery 
How along the aisle of history, 
Where the feet of sages go. 
Loveliest to the purest eyes, 
Calm the mystic tapet lies. 
Soft and smooth, and even spreading. 
As if made for angel's treading 
Every figure has its plaidings, 
Brighter form and softer shadings, 
In wrought figures, fading ever. 
Tufted circles touching never. 
Each illumined — what a riddle, 
By a cross that gems the middle. 

'Tis a saying, some reject it, 
That its light is all reflected. 
That the tapet's hues are given. 
By a light that shines from heaven ; 
'Tis believed by all believing 
That great God himself is weaving ; 
Bringmg out the world's dark mystery 
In the light of faith and history ; 
And as warp and woof diminish 
Comes the grand and glorious finish, 
When begin the golden ages, 
Long foretold by seers and sages. 

The balance of the voyage we had smooth seas, fair 
weather and a joyous time. 

No language can describe our feelings as we came in sight 
of the dear shores of America again. We regretted to 
part with the many pleasant friends whose acquaintance 
we had formed on ship-board ; the very sea itself seemed 
dearer to us on account of the troubles we had had with 
it; the City of Berlin that had buffeted the waves so 
successfully in our behalf was not forgotten, but a thrill 



364 EUROPEAN NOTES. 

of joy ran through our hearts as we steamed into New 
York harbor. We disembarked, realizing to the fullest 
extent the sentiment, so beautifully and tenderly express- 
ed by our own John Howard Payne : 

"Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam 

Be it ever so hu:-nble, there's no place like home." 



THE END. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Abbotsford , , .351 

" Ginevra..,. 352 

" Scott's Library 352 

" J. R. Hope Scott, Esq 351 

Aix La Chapelle , 59 

Alps, Crossing the. 232 

Alsatian Mountains , 193 

Americans Extravagant ...... .160 

Angelo, Michael. ..... 282 

Antwerp .321 

" Ascent of Cross .322 

" Descent of Cross 322 

" Rubens 322 

''AuldKirk Alloway" ..347 

Anxious Preacher. . . .361 

Apollo Belvidere . . .283 

Austerlitz 229 

Banks of the Doon 348 

Baptist Chapel 285 

'• Missions , .285, 328 

Basle. 206 

Beatrice de Cenci 287 

Beer Drinking ...... 182 

Bells of Shandon. ...*. ...358 

Berlin ,.164 

" Bismarck's House .. 165 

" Moltke's Headquarters. 166 

" Statue of Victory 166 

" Panorama of Gravelotte 166 

" Brandenburg Gate 167 

" Unter den Linden 167 

" Statue of Frederick the Great 168 

" Emperor's Palace 168 

" University 168 

" Palace Bridge. ,.....' 169 



166 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Old Palace. .169 

"White Lady" .169 

Art Exhibition 170 

American Chapel 171 

Conservatory of Music 171 

Bohemia 226 

" Industries 228 

Bologna 240 

Brahms, Johannes 91 

Brussels 314 

' ' Carpets 314 

' ' Laces 314 

Bunyan, John 328 

Burns' Cottage .346 

". Monument.... 347 

"Busstags" ...148 

Byron, Lord. ...11, 327 

Calais. , 58 

Canterbury 57 

Catacombs 274 

Carey, William 328 

Carlisle .. . ..334 

Cicero 286, 296 

Castle St. Angelo. 287 

Coburg . ... ..... ... .. 85 

Cordemann, General 86 

Coburg Society .......................... ... . 87 

" Nobility 88 

" Castle........ 107 

Cork 358 

Cost of Living . 215 

Cologne 60 

" Cathedral 61 

Coupe Traveling. 247 

Cremation at Gotha 150 

Crewe, etc 9 

Danube Eiver .'.':. 217 

" Poetry... 219 

Demas • 273 

De Medici, Family of 242 

Dover. . . 58 



INDEX. 367 

PAGE 

Dresden 159 

" Gallery 161 

" Johannes Museum 163 

" Green Vault 163 

Duchess of Edinburgh 90 

Ducal Family of Coburg 97 

" Palace in "Hofgarten".. 101 

" Residence 102 

" Ball 105 

" Palace "Callinberg" .106 

" " Rosenau 106 

" Dinner Ill 

" Hunts 112 

" Income 113 

Duke of Albany. 345 

Dying Gladiator 258 

Edelweiss 234 

Edinburgh 335 

" Princess Street 336 

" Scott's Monument 336 

" The "Mound" 337 

The Castle 337 

" Birthroom of James I .338 

" Scottish Highlanders 338 

" Holyrood Palace 339 

" Queen Mary 340 

" John Knox ....340 

" Rizzio 341 

' ' Observations 342 

Elstow. ....327 

Feeing in Germany .160 

Florence . 241 

" Picture Galleries 243 

" Cathedral and Baptistery .244 

" Ladies 247 

Flushing 325 

Fog Horns ........ 6 

Fourth of July Celebration in Leipsic 92 

Frankfort on the Main 78 

Funeral Ceremonies 149 

Gahleo 304, 305 

Gambetta 205 



368 INDEX. 

PAGE 

German Military. , 137 

' ' Women 137 

" Festivals.... 140,147 

" Baptists 143 

Hotels.... 75 

Godiva, Lady. ... 10, 322 

Gotha 108 

Glasgow ...... 344 

Gretna Green. 334 

Gunpowder and Dynamite 329 

Gutenberg, 77, 193 

Gypsies 227 

Hague, The 324 

Heidelberg 191 

Highland Mary ............ ... 347 

Hill of Garr ns. .................................... . 285 

Hohtn: 'in. ..... . .... 87 

Home at Last ........ .. 363 

Horned Moses 288 

Hurrah for America, anecdote 96 

Inscriptions on Urns .152 

Ireland. .356 

" Laud Renters. .357 

" Aflfecting Scene .359 

Jews, Oppressed. . . . . .145 

Kirkby Stephen .332 

Wharton Hall ...333 

Lake Constance. .... ........... 216 

Lake Trasimene 248 

Lateran Palace and Church. 288 

Leipsic 156 

" University.. ...157 

Fairs................... 157 

" Goethe'sChair.... 158 

Battlefield 158 

" Photographs. .158 

' ' Lime Trees. 159 

Liege 59 

Lighthouse "Cow and Calf " 6 

Liverpool 8 

London. . 12 

" Nelson's Monument 13 



INDEX. 369 

PAGE 

Havelock's Monument 13 

Home of Ben Johnson 13 

"Westminster Abbey •• 1 

" Poet's Corner 16 

" Chapels 17 

" " Jerusalem Chamber 19 

" " Divine Service in 20 

" " Neighborhood of 21 

St. Paul's Cathedral 21 

Sir Christopher Wren 22 

" " Whispering Galleries 23 

" " Divine Service in 24 

Churches 

Wesley's Chapel j 

Whitefleld's Tabernacle .26 

Rowland Hill's Church . . 26 

Spurgeon's Tabernacle , .' 27 

Rev. C. H. Spurgeon 27 

" " Pastor's College 29 

The Tower 30 

" Crown Jewels 34 

" Tower Hill 35 

" Tower Burial Ground 35 

Madame Tussaud's Gallery 36 

" " Chamber of Horrors 37 

" " Relics of Napoleon 38 

Streets 39 

Bridge 40 

Billingsgate 41 

Newgate Prison 41 

Mansion House 42 

George Peabody 42 

Bank of England 42 

Albert Memorial 43 

Temple Bar . .^ 4' 

Wars of the Roses 44 

Oliver Goldsmith . . 45 

Parliament 46 

Westminster Hall 47 

Whitehall 48 

Charles I 48 



370 



INDEX. 



FAGS 

" British Museum 49 

" Zoological Gardens 51 

" Crystal Palace ... 51 

" English Horses 54 

" DickTurpin.. 55,327 

" Feeing 55 

Luke, the Evangelist 273 

Luther, Martin 114 

at Eisleben 115 

" " at Eisenach 117 

" " at Erfurt 118 

" " at Wittenberg 121 

in Italy 122,286 

" Burning the Pope's Bull 122, 125 

at Diet of Worms 127, 130 

" at Wartburg Castle 132 

Hymn 128 

" Grave 136 

Manchester 329 

Mantua 239 

Marguerite, Queen of Italy 289 

Mark, John, Evangelist 273 

Meiningen, Duke of 89 

Melrose Abbey 350 

Heart of Bruce 351 

Modena 240 

Naples ... 290 

" Bay 291 

' ' Museum and Gallery 292 

" Tomb of Virgil 293 

" Reserved Gallery 293 

Netherlands, The 313 

Nuremberg ..177 

Old Castle 178 

" Iron Virgin 178 

" Albert Durer 179 

" Exposition 179 

An Incident 179 

Ocean, Dread of the 1 

Onesimus 273 



INDEX. 371 

PAGE 

Padua 305 

Paris 193 

" Louvre 194 

" Boulevards 195 

" Bourse 195 

' ' Statue of Ney 195 

" Champs Elysees 195, 199 

" Place de la Concorde 195 

" Tomb of Napoleon 196 

" Palais Royal 197 

' ' Bois de Boulogne 197 

" Pere la Chaise 197 

" Column Vendome 197 

" Saint Chapelle 198 

" Pantheon 198 

" Notre Dame 198 

Peter, the Apostle 274 

Pilate's Mountain 209 

Pisa . 302 

" Cathedral 303 

" Leaning Tower 303 

" Campo Santo 304 

Pompeii 294,299 

" Amphitheatre 296 

" House of Diomed 296 

" House of Pansa 297 

Street Notices ..298 

" House of Tragic Poet 298 

Porpoises 5 

Potsdam , 172 

" Babelsburg 172 

" Sans Souci 173 

Windmill 174 

" Orangery 174 

" Tomb of Frederick the Great 175 

The New Palace 176 

Prague 230 

Queenstown 357 

Raphael 283 

Reflections on leaving Europe 354 

Righi 209 



372 INDEX. 

PAGE 

Rhine, The 63 

Bonn 65 

Drachenfels 66 

Wines 67, 74 

Moravian Brethren 68 

Seven Mountains 69 

Coblentz 70 

Lurlie ; 72 

Mouse Tower 73 

Bingen 73 

Mayence 74 

Rochester 57 

Rome 251 

" Hotel Minerva 251 

" Temple of Minerva 252 

" Pantheon 253 

" Baths 254 

" Theatre of Marcellus 255 

" Capitoline Hill 256 

" Temple of Jupiter. ..257 

" Bambino 257 

' ' Capitoline Museum . 258 

" Forum 259 

" Tribune of Orators ... 261 

" Mamertine Prison 262, 271 

" Campus Martins .,263 

' ' Forum of Csesar 264 

" Forum of Trajan 264 

•' Palatine Hill 265 

" House of Romulus 265 

" Gracchi Family 265 

" Palace of the Cajsars 266 

" Circus Maximus 267 

" Colosseum 268 

" Cloaca Maxima 269 

" Paul's Footprints 270 

Rothschild, Baron 79 

Rotterdam 323 

" Gin Drinking 324 

Rubicon, The 304 

Rugby 10 



INDEX, 373 

PAGE 

Sea Birds 5 

Scala Sancta 288 

Sedan, Panorama of 80 

Scott, Charles Stewart 86 

Sclavonic Language 231 

Scott, Sir Walter 349 

Signaling Ships 5 

Sonneberg , ... 82 

" Consulate of 82 

" Consular Duties , 83 

Vice Consul 83 

' ' Consular District 155 

Steamship City of Chester ... 2 

Steamship City of Berlin . 355 

Storm Signals 356 

Storm at Sea 360 

Sunday in Germany 139 

Strasburger, Oscar 89 

Strasburg 192 

" Clock .192 

St. Bernard Dogs 208 

St. Paul's Without the Wall, Church of, 272 

St. Peter's Church 278 

Swiss Industries 209 

St. Pancras Station 326 

Church 327 

Strauss Band 334 

TamO'Shanter 348 

Taylor, Rev. Geo. B., D. D 374, 385 

Teil, William 208,209 

Tiber, The River 248 

Three Fountains, Church of 272 

Thuringia • 153 

Trenck, Baron 230 

Trent 236 

Tyrol 233 

Universities, German 119, 137 

Vallambrosa • - 245 

Vatican, the 281 

" " Sistine Chapel 282 

Verona. 237 



3T4 INDEX. 

" Juliet's House 238 

Tomb 239 

Versailles 201 

" Great Trianon 203 

" Little Trianon 204 

Venice 307 

" Gondolas 308 

" St. Mark's Square 309 

" Pigeon Feeding 309 

" Bronze Horses . . .310 

" Palace of the Doges. 311 

" Bridge of Sighs 311 

" Picture Gallery 312 

" Grand Canal 312 

Vesuvius 290 

Vienna 221 

" Hofburg 222 

" Imperial Treasury 223 

" Charlemagne's Crown 223 

" Wood of the Cross 223 

" Lance that Pierced the Saviour 223 

" Strauss' Band 224 

" Parks 225 

" University 225 

" Belvidere Gallery 225 

" Ladies 225 

Virginia Tobacco in'Italy 306 

Von Bora, Catherine 133 

Wallace, William. 345 

Walpurgis 148 

Walton, Izaak • 9 

"Weaver" Recitation 362 

Watering Places 186 

" Fredericks Hall 186 

" " Wiesbaden 187 

" " Baden Baden 187 

" " Carlsbad 187 

" " Franzenbad 187 

" " Kissingen 188 

Waterloo, Field of • • -316 

" TheLion • ......319 



INDEX. 375 

PAGE 

" Museum 319 

"Bravest of the Brave" 319 

" Napoleon 316' 320 

Old Guard 320 

Wellington 317,321 

" Grouchy 320 

Blucher 318,321 

Wedding Ceremonies , 149 

Wharton Family 330 

Wine Drinking . 185 

Winser, H. J .86 

Wolverton 11 

Wolsey , Cardinal 329 

Wurzburg 81 

Zurich 207 



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